This week’s Tudor United SportsCar Championship test at the Daytona International Speedway saw Sunoco Rolex At Daytona 24 Challenge winner Bradley Smith deliver an outstanding performance on his first ever outing in a Daytona Prototype sportscar. After completing 100 laps of the 3.56-mile road course configuration of the legendary circuit, he impressed the Action Express team by going under the reference time set by Christian Fittipaldi, ending the session third overall and posting the fastest lap of any other driver in a 2013-specification DP car.
After arriving at track on Monday, Smith was introduced to the Action Express team, who provided the car for the planned two-days of the test. The 22-year old Radical SR3 Challenge Champion from Essex was then given an insight into the intricacies of the track and the Chevrolet Corvette-based Daytona Prototype he would be driving, by 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona winner Joao Barbosa.
Tuesday saw cars take to the circuit, with Fittipaldi – a winner of the 24-hour race in 2004 – shaking-down the #9 Action Express DP car and setting a reference time for the Sunoco Challenge winner, who then took the wheel for the first time and, after dialling himself in, began to increase his pace. Taking onboard the advice and words of wisdom extended to him by Barbosa, Fittipaldi and Sebastian Bourdais – another of the team’s highly experienced drivers – Smith was given the opportunity to stay in the car for as long as possible.
After completing 100 laps, a very satisfied Smith said: “I’ve had a fantastic day. There was a lot to learn with the DP car and the Daytona circuit with its banking, as both are very different to anything we have in Europe. The Action Express team made me feel very welcome and did a fantastic job of helping me understand the car and how to drive it. Together with Sunoco, IMSA and the Daytona organisers, everyone is making sure I have as much time as possible to prepare for the race, so I was able to get a lot of laps in, which was great.
“To be working in the same team as Christian (Fittipaldi), Joao (Barbosa) and Sebastian (Bourdais) – to have really experienced guys like that offering advice is amazing. You don’t get much better in DPs than those guys, so to learn and compare myself to them has been a great help. I was extremely happy to set the fastest lap times of the 2013 cars and to end the test third overall was just fantastic.”
During the first day of the test, two cars – one of them the 2014-specification Action Express DP car #5 driven by Barbosa – experienced tyre failiures that resulted in both cars sustaining extensive damage. Consequently, IMSA (the governing body of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship) suspended the second day’s testing for all Daytona Prototypes.
Elton Sawyer, Action Express director of team operations, was very happy with the progress Smith had made after just one day:
“Bradley did an outstanding job driving our 2013-specification cars and impressed us all. It’s a shame that, due to the situation with the tyres, the second day of testing was cancelled, although we believe this was the right call made by IMSA. We also believe that Bradley would have been even faster on day two. Everyone at Action Express Racing wishes him great success for the Rolex 24.”
Anders Hildebrand of Anglo American Oils, the driving force behind the Sunoco Daytona Challenge, was also impressed with the outcome:
“Bradley is the 5th winner we’ve introduced to Daytona Prototypes. It is great to see how well all of them have taken to this type of car and to witness a driver’s reaction when they arrive the Daytona International Speedway for the first time. Bradley did amazingly well and simulated Felipe Nasr’s – one of our previous winners – success on his first day of testing. Bradley proved that he has speed in abundance and the skill to work with a new team in an alien environment. I think we have a star in the making!”
Smith now looks forward to his next visit Daytona when he will take part in the ‘Roar’ test, driving a 2014-specification DP car with the team that will run him in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Held between 3rd and 5th January, ‘Roar’ provides a final opportunity for teams to practice before the big day, which takes place later in the month on 25th & 26th. The team selected to run Smith will be announced in December.
