Charlie Eastwood has praised the “insanely good” fire responders at Daytona International Speedway for saving his car – and a portion of his 2025 race programme – from potential ruin.
Eastwood was competing in the GTD class at the Rolex 24 Hours and was swiftly moving up the order towards the head of the field when he had to park up the DXDT Racing-run Corvette.
The Belfast driver detected flames at the rear of the Z06 GT3.R on one of the in-car displays halfway through the around-the-clock event and peeled off the track coming into the Tri-Oval section.
The first sign of trouble was a small flame before a large fire erupted as he exited Turn Six in the American machine and at that exact moment, Eastwood said human instinct kicked in.
“Unfortunately, I saw a bit of a flame through the second part of the road course and entering Turn Six. By the time I got on to the banking, the flames were getting bigger,” said Eastwood, who, after positive Roar Before the 24 tests, had to endure a scrappy qualifying performance.
“Thankfully the fire team there are insanely good – and were at the car before I even got out. We’re lucky we still have a car based on them, so thank you – they’re the best in the business.”
Charlie Eastwood
Despite the setback and conceding the result is not what they expected, former champion Eastwood believes the track time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is going to prove beneficial to DXDT Racing as they transition into the top level of American GT Racing.
“The two weeks as a whole have been tricky – we missed a little bit of pace throughout, but it is also been great to work with the team,” he added. “They are a super nice bunch of people and I’m sure when we find a little more pace in the car, we will have good results in the future.”
There was also disappointment at the Rolex 24 Hours for fellow Ulsterman Dan Harper and his Paul Miller Racing team-mates when their push for GTD Pro victory was halted around the seven-and-a-half-hour mark. As Max Hesse slowed for an incident in the Prototype field, the driver of the Lamborghini right behind him failed to react and shunted his BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
However, 24-year-old Harper is adamant the results will come, starting at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (March 12-15). “We showed on the first weekend that we have the pace to be a real contender in GTD Pro and move to Sebring ready to fight at the front again,” he said.