NEWS - 28. January 2025

24 HOURS AT DAYTONA

Since November, Vesti has been making preparations at Whelen Cadillac Racing to get ready for the biggest race of the year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - Daytona 24hrs. The week leading up to the race also offered tests but even then it felt like the race was far away, because Vesti so anxiously wanted the waiting time to be over. This weekend the team had an additional driver onboard due to the long 24 hour race. F2 winner from 2022 Felipe Drugovich, together with the team's regular drivers Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken and Vesti, made up on paper, perhaps the strongest driver line-up for the team ever.

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Starting my season in the USA and participating in the crown jewel race of them all is the perfect script that just couldn't be written any better! How I have been looking forward to this, says Vesti.

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Whelen Cadillac Racing lost the 2024 race by seconds. Clearly the team was even more motivated to clinch a win this year. The car had good speed, but at no point in the tests leading up to the race was the team fastest. Jack Aitken was the driver qualifying the car for the race. A starting position as P4 was achieved with BMW right at the front.

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The race turned out to be a bigger challenge than anyone could wish for. We led for half the endurance race, but several safety cars made the race difficult for us. However, my crash in my 2nd stint was what set us all way back. A rear wheel suspension broke and I hit the wall in turn 4 at 280 km/h. I thought the car was finished! But the team wanted it differently. 70 minutes later a new front and rear was rebuilt and the car was ready to go again. A crazy achievement by the team!

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Vesti was back in the car again in the morning. Always important to shake off a crash. Only the foot hurt. But it wasn't the foot that became a challenge for Vesti.

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I didn't have the best luck with the restarts. Getting the tires fired up became the weekend's big challenge. I did not succeed in ensuring the correct temperature in the tires. The 3 restarts in the entire race all happened with me behind the wheel, so some positions were lost to experienced drivers behind me. There is something to be learned here that cannot be tested before a race. It is characteristic of the series that there are plenty of safety cars throughout the season. It increases the tension in the series to the max, but therefore also gives me an opportunity to quickly get a handle on that part. Lots to learn for this first race, but I'm loving it! There is so much potential in my team and my teammates and tremendous support from the team. The team really believes in young drivers and shows us enormous confidence. Exactly the kind of fuel that takes me to the highest level of performance, concludes Vesti.

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Vesti and co. had to settle for P9 in its GTP class and 248 points on the account and take off the hat for Porsche's victory. Vesti will be testing next week at Sebring with the race taking place on the weekend of March 14-16.