Top-10 Debut for Stevenson Motorsport Audi R8 LMS in the Rolex 24 At Daytona

Stevenson Motorsports persevered with the team's two new Audi R8 LMS machines in the team's return to the Rolex 24 At Daytona as they led laps in the world-famous endurance event and battled through to score a top-10 result as both team entries took the checkered flag at the end of the caution-ridden battle. The No. 9 SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS shared by Kenny Habul, Boris Said, Dion von Moltke, and Tristan Vautier took home an eighth place finish while the brother No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS shared by Andrew Davis, Robin Liddell, Matt Bell, and Lawson Aschenbach crossed the finish line 15th in the GTD class. A rainy start to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship weekend presented a unique challenge to the Jacksonville, North Carolina-based squad as track time was extremely limited, leaving the majority of the drivers with just a few hot laps prior to the drop of the Rolex 24 green flag on Saturday. The No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS showed strength in the first half of the round-the-clock event, consistently sitting inside the top-five of the time charts at the top of each hour. After a rain-soaked qualifying saw Davis start the race from 16th position on the grid, the Stevenson Motorsports veteran quickly worked his way up to fifth position before the race was even an hour old. Just past the one hour and 22-minute mark, Davis pitted from second to hand the car over to Scotsman Liddell. A speedy pit stop by the team under the green flag positions allowed Liddell to re-join the field still inside the top-10 as he settled in to drive his double-stint. Liddell assumed the lead of the GTD field on Lap 54 to lead for the next six laps before ultimately encountering lapped traffic and pitting for fresh tires and fuel. The remainder of Liddell’s stint ran smoothly as he kept the car in podium contention, expertly navigating the packed 22-car field before handing it over to Bell just past the third hour mark. Excellent strategy calls from Team Manager Mike Johnson combined with strong driving from Bell showed him consistently running in the top-five and as high as second place just before pitting at the five hour mark to cede control to Aschenbach. As the darkness settled in completely, Aschenbach joined the field under yellow in fourth position. The drivers cycled through the long night hours, working to steer clear of trouble. Slight contact for Liddell at the nine hour, 21-minute mark damaged the right side, but didn’t merit an extra pit stop. A pair of right-rear tire issues for Bell just past the halfway point of the race threw a wrench in the team’s excellent execution and lost them a lap following a drive-through penalty after pitting for emergency service in a closed pit. But with 12 hours still to run, the four veteran Stevenson drivers and IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Champion team continued to push, running in the mix of the top-10 fastest GTD cars. Unfortunately, damage to the No. 6 forced the machine behind the wall with just over four hours remaining. Despite a monster effort by the team and Audi partners to make repairs quickly, the incident ultimately put the No. 6 laps down with not enough time to make it up - preventing a top-10 finish. The brother No. 9 SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS ran a similar strategy to the No. 6 machine, off-set for the most part by just a lap or two. After missing qualifying due to a power-steering issue, von Moltke began the race from 22nd on the starting grid. Unfortunately, bad luck struck on the starting grid when an electrical issue prevented von Moltke from taking the green flag along with the rest of the field. Quick work by the team and their partners at Audi sorted the issue, sending von Moltke out to join the field, starting two laps down. von Moltke drove lap times on par with those positions ahead of him to gain a lap and position back before pitting at the one hour 22-minute mark to hand the SunEnergy1 Audi R8 over to Habul. A quick stop by the team and smart, heads-up driving from Habul in his first-ever Rolex 24 saw him work his way through traffic to make up even more positions as he gave the wheel to Said just past the two and a half hour mark. As darkness descended on the World Center of Racing, sports car and NASCAR veteran Said navigated a busy field and multiple caution periods to avoid any contact and hop out at the four hour and 35-minute mark to give Vautier a turn. The traditionally open-wheel driver showcased his sports car acumen to set the fastest lap for the No. 9 to that point of the race not long into his stint. The SunEnergy1 Audi drivers continued to work hard all night long to prove the true strength of their machine, making up two laps in as many hours despite a blistering pace set by the head of the field. By the halfway point, the team had managed to work its way just outside of the top-10 and as the sun rose, the SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS truly began to shine as the drivers worked their way through their final stints, steering completely clear of any contact or incident to drive the car home on the lead lap to an eighth place finish. "I think when you’ve done this long enough just finishing Daytona is not quite the greatest thing anymore,” said Team Manager Mike Johnson following the race. “I think we had really high hopes because at the Roar we felt we had a really strong car. The No. 6 car was probably fast enough to be in that top group but then a few flat tires and a locked hub just kind of took it out of competition. Unfortunately the No. 9 car just couldn’t get any speed out of it really all week. But the guys did a great job and they obviously worked their butts off to get it there. We had two cars on the lead lap for most of the race and we even led at some points. There’s definitely a lot of positives to take out of today and we are all learning a lot about the new Audi R8 LMS, but it gets you amped up to get ready for Sebring and get a little redemption.” Stevenson Motorsports will be in action again in short order for another historic American endurance event at Sebring International Raceway on March 16-19.

Andrew Davis, No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS – “I think there were a lot of lessons learned in this race. As I always say, the Rolex 24 At Daytona is such a grueling event because so many variables have to fall into place to win. We certainly have the team with Stevenson Motorsports and we feel very confident with our Audi R8 LMS. We had the package, I think the world of all of these guys and I know we could do it, it’s just so difficult to make everything work. It wasn’t in the cards for us, but we still fought hard on the track, all of the drivers drove exceptionally well and minimized mistakes and had good pace. The tire issue and then the contact toward the end it just wasn’t there for us. But I still feel very confident moving forward. It wasn’t the best points day for us in the championship but we really learned so much. I certainly learned a lot about just racing this new Audi and racing in the GT3 category in our GTD class. Now I’m really just looking forward to the rest of the season, and I just can’t say enough about all of the guys at Stevenson Motorsports, they are all spit and everybody put everything into this, their heart and soul, leading up to it and then into the race itself so I’m so proud to be a member of Stevenson Motorsports and I’m looking forward to Sebring!” Robin Liddell, No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS – “It was a frustrating race I think. The Audi R8 is a good car, a good package. We really like the car and you know I think the guys did a really good job with it. I think we did a good job on the race procedurally. We didn’t really make any mistakes and you know we had really good pit stops. Everything went as well as we could possibly have hoped for from that point of view, but ultimately the car wasn’t quick enough and particularly on the banking. A big congrats to the No. 44 Audi on their win, that was a brilliant result for them, but I think even they struggled a bit with speed. With us having the issues we had, obviously we were out of the game really. I think had we had a perfect run then potentially we would have been there at the end and been able to fight but really in the end the car just wasn’t quite fast enough on the banking here at Daytona International Speedway. There are a lot of positives to take out of the weekend and its nice to finish the race with both the cars but some frustration that we didn’t really know what it was going to look like until we got into the race. But overall I’m proud of the whole Stevenson Motorsports team, they executed well and we will move on to the next.” Matt Bell, No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS – “I had just a few small issues throughout my stint, the biggest was that contact with the 02 in Turn 5. He just came out of nowhere. It always happens though, we get to the end of the race and people start making high-risk moves that really they probably shouldn’t. But that contact sent us back to the garage where we were able to fix a rear-left wheel issue we had been dealing with for a couple of pit stops. The way the team and the guys at Audi worked to get me back on track so quickly was absolutely incredible, I can’t say enough about them, especially the Audi guys. They were just machines. Honestly, it was a little bit of a disappointing run for me, we are definitely still learning the car and we battled some setup issues throughout the race. But ultimately we are all happy to be able to finish our first Rolex 24 At Daytona with the twin Audi R8 LMS machines. We are all really impressed with the car and the No. 9 car was super impressive this race. They went from not even starting with the field due to an electrical thing, to getting back on the lead lap and running in the top-10. So we are really pleased to be working with and representing Audi. We still have some things to learn about the car and of course we would have loved to have won, but in the end we are so happy to have gotten to be there at the end.” Lawson Aschenbach, No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS – “We came into this race with very high expectations, as we should. This is such a great organization and a great team from the top to the bottom, everybody is first-class all the way, so it is a little bit disappointing to not get quite the finish we were hoping for. But sometimes things just don’t go your way in 24-hour races, you never know what can happen. We had a bit of misfortune with some tire issues and that can make or break a race. But overall I’m really happy with the new Audi R8 LMS, it’s been a blast to drive. We all have a lot to learn on it, but I think that will come over the next couple of races and testing. Audi does such a good job and the car is really flawless and I think as we learn a little bit and work a bit more we are going to be right up there, but a huge hats off to Audi for the 24-hour win, it’s a huge accomplishment.” Dion von Moltke, No. 9 SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS - First off I want to say a big thanks to SunEnergy1 for having us on board with Stevenson Motorsports in the new Audi R8 LMS. It’s been an honor to share the car with Kenny (Habul), Boris (Said), and Tristan (Vautier). We really connected really well even though we showed up to the Roar not knowing we’d work together. We were able to connect with the team rather quickly and the cars were unloaded fast and reliable out of the box so that speaks really highly to the product Audi Sport customer racing developed and as well as the team here at Stevenson Motorsports. So to come around after 24 hours in the top-10 with pretty much no testing, I think we are pretty happy with that. The biggest thing is we weren’t the quickest car today. We couldn’t really battle for a win but we stayed reliable, stayed within our box, and kind of had a mistake-free run which is really difficult to do for 24 hours, so hat's off to the team and my teammates. Everyone had a great race, and thanks to them we’re in the top-10 and it’s a good way to start the year!” Kenny Habul, No. 9 SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS – “This was a really wonderful experience, I’m really glad I did it! A huge thanks to Audi and Stevenson Motorsports. It was one of those days where a lot of things went wrong and we lost two laps straight off the bat, which was the strangest thing in the world. But we just fought and fought and fought all day and night. We had some motor issues and were a bit slower on the straights but thanks to all of my guys and Boris (Said), Tristan (Vautier) and Dion (von Moltke) because we fought so hard. Eighth is really pretty good, especially in this race so I’m really happy and glad to have had the opportunity to run the Rolex 24 At Daytona!” Boris Said, No. 9 SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS – “It was an honor to run with Stevenson Motorsports in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. They are such a great team and I have known them for years. Up to this point we have always been adversaries, racing against each other so to have his result and have things go well is exactly what I expected when I came to race with them. They are such a great team and Johnny (Stevenson, Team Owner) runs a great program. The Audi is also a really great car. Unfortunately I think ours had a little bit of a problem today and we were just short some straight-line speed and you need that at Daytona to be competitive. This finish is I think everything we had so that is great and we didn’t make any mistakes, which is rare and wonderful for this race. The car is in one piece so they can take it to the next race and hopefully keep building.” Tristan Vautier, No. 9 SunEnergy1 Audi R8 LMS – “Considering where we started, I think we are happy to finish where we finished. We kept the car in one piece, not even really a scratch I don’t think so that is already an achievement. Probably from about halfway through the race on we struggled with a loss of straight-line speed, but we tried to do our own thing and stay focused and race our own race and stay on track and finish solid. Everybody did a great job, hat's off to Kenny (Habul) it was his first race in IMSA in a GT3 car and in the Rolex 24 and he ran mistake-free and was quite fast as well so that was great. And obviously everyone else did a great job as well Boris (Said) and Dion (von Moltke) were very solid. Those three guys were great to work with as well as the whole team. The entire team did a great job, it was great to meet the Stevenson guys and a huge thanks to Audi for all of the support as well as SunEnergy1.”

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