Friday, January 29, 1999
Doran team ready to rock around the clock in Daytona
Several Cincinnati cars in 24-hour race
BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Several Cincinnati-based cars will compete this weekend in the prestigious Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, including the defending championship team co-owned by Delhi native Kevin Doran.
The 24-hour endurance race, the American equivalent of LeMans, begins Saturday at 1 p.m. and ends Sunday at 1 p.m. at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Doran, 37, has some of the world's best racers at his disposal. Two-time Indy 500 champion Arie Luyendyk, Indy car veteran Didier Theys, and Formula One veteran Mauro Baldi return for Doran/Lista Racing after guiding their Can-Am class Ferrari 333 SP to the championship in 1998.
In qualifying Thursday, Theys ran the second-fastest time and landed Doran's car on the outside of the front row.
“Things are looking pretty good,” Doran said earlier this week. “But there's an abnormal amount of luck needed in a 24-hour race.”
Another Cincinnati team, Schumacher Racing, knows that. The team, headed by Union Centre Boulevard developer Larry Schumacher and Cincinnati driver John O'Steen, had its GTS-2 Porsche 933 stopped by a broken crankshaft about 10 hours into last year's race.
“We were leading at the time,” said John Wright, the Schumacher crew chief and Owensville resident. “This year, we're right back where we need to be.”
The race features four classes of exotic cars, with high-powered Can-Ams achieving over 200 mph while negotiating around slower GT-2, GT3 and GTT cars which are simultaneously vying for position in their divisions. The GT cars also push nearly 200 mph.
In Can-Am, Doran also co-owns the Doran/Matthews Racing team that features CART driver Jimmy Vasser.
Rohr Motorsport, a Cincinnati team that finished first in GT-1 last year, has ceased operations.
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