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Davis started the race in his No. 33 Luna-C Racing Porsche running up front throughout the duration of his one-hour and 10-minute stint. He entered the pits to hand the wheel over to Kinetic co-owner Smith. By the end of his stint, Smith had managed to take the overall lead in the 997 and entered the pits to transfer the car over to DeMacedo who ran extremely consistent increasing the growing lead. By the mid-point of the event Kinetic was enjoying a 10-lap lead with select drivers taking multiple stints.
Kinetic continued to lead the race until the 9th hour with a 13-lap advantage. At this point the car required a brake change which once completed shortened the lead to three laps. Maintaining the front position, the rain came causing Smith to enter the pits for rain tires and a driver change. Eastman, who has extensive racing experience in wet conditions, took the wheel for the remainder of the race giving Kinetic the overall and class wins with a 2-lap lead over the nearest competitor.
“I think everyone did a great job here this weekend, ” said Welsh. “It definitely shows our abilities to provide winning results. Great preparation and talented driving is more important than fast lap times when you want to do well in an endurance event like this one. I am extremely pleased to come away with the overall win and thanks to all of the guys for their help here at Homestead. “
Lee Davis, owner of the Porsche used at the event was equally pleased with the results that the team of crew and drivers was able to come away with.
“It was a fantastic weekend, ” said Davis. “I decided to consider participating in the race at such a late date, I really wasn’t sure if the logistics could be worked out. In hindsight, I still don’t see how Kinetic was able to pull it off! But not only did they pull it off, the car performed flawlessly, and we were able to win first overall!
It provides tremendous confidence to have a shop supporting me that can prepare a car for a twelve hour race in such a short time frame, and have the expertise at the track to make changes on the fly. Bill and Alex made the right calls at the right time that enabled us to come away with the win. Also, Russell and Nic made an initial commitment to put it together and provided the necessary resources not only to show up, but to win. That’s the kind of team Kinetic is, and the kind of team I want to be associated with.
We all know racing is a team sport, but it’s even more evident in endurance racing. If you want to be successful, it requires the skill of a great team working together. It was great driving with Russell and Jorge as teammates, as well as Daniel, who provided great insight and support. It’s more fun when you can all win together… I’m definitely looking forward to the next one! “
Kinetic co-owner Smith also competes in the Porsche based IMSA Cup Challenge which runs in conjunction with the American Le Mans Series. Being no stranger to endurance events, Smith enjoyed the race weekend as well as taking the win.
“12 hours is a long time to race, ” said Smith. “Great performance by both fellow-drivers and the crew. The guys made some excellent strategy calls. We had some mistakes that we will learn from, but a great result especially given the 10 day prep time for the event. The only somewhat daunting issue is that the 12 hour race is only half as long as the Daytona 24 Hour event that we all hope to compete in next year – so we will take what we learned from here and polish our process to allow us to compete at Daytona in 2008. ”
