Double Victory at Daytona Classic 24h
November 2023
The team went to the United States for one of the most iconic events of the year: the Classic 24 at Daytona. We came with two emblematic American cars: the 1969 Lola T70 MkIIIB, and the 2019 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. Even if they are fifty years apart, both models won the emblematic Daytona 24 Hours ( the Lola in 1969, and the Cadillac in 2019 ).
Both our cars actually raced in period the Daytona 24h, in 1969 for the Lola and in 2021 for the Cadillac.
It was the first time we welcomed Marcel Fässler in the team, a three times Le Mans winner with Audi Sport Team Joest (2011, 2012 and 2014 ), and also 2012 WEC Endurance Drivers Champion. He did an excellent job driving along Gérard Lopez; he was faster than anyone else in Group A, lapping Daytona in 1:50.0 with the Lola. Starting from pole position the duo won all four races without debate.
The competition was much tougher in Group F, notably with Binks Motorsport running another Cadillac DPi-V.R and clearly they were here to win. Pierce Marshall shared the wheel with Eric Foss who placed their car in pole position. The four races saw an epic battle between the three DPi and the Pescarolo LMP1, but Marcel was true to its Le Mans legend and set the week end best time in 1:36.3 during the night. Gérard Lopez drove half of the stints and the pair also won the four races! This is actually the second time Iconic wins two groups at Daytona Classic, since in 2017 we won in Group A with a Lola T7à and Group D win the mighty Dallara Judd.
We very proud of our team and drivers for all the work done. The cars performed flawlessly throughout the race, without encountering any mechanical problems. We would also like to extend special thanks to the Historic Sportscar Racing people for their invaluable assistance and warm hospitality. To all our fellow racing enthusiasts in Europe, we wholeheartedly recommend making a trip to Daytona to experience this incredible track and event firsthand. Lastly, we would like to offer my sincere appreciation to the ever-helpful and kind Malcolm Ross, who generously provided us with an alternator for the Cadillac during practice sessions. This just goes to show that even modern cars can encounter minor hiccups.
Keep racing and pushing the limits!
Marcel FÄSSLER:
"I had a blast! First, I want to say thank you to Gerard and Team Iconic Racing. I did enjoy every single minute with the team, it was a great experience.
I got huge respect the first time I drove the Lola T70. After running it the first time the respect of the drivers from that stage has grown even higher. The car was in great shape and well-prepared. We never had any issues during the race and it ran very smoothly. We had amazing speed with our Lola T70 and we knew we had a big chance to win it. Gerard and the Team did a great job and finally, we could win overall in this race.
Driving the Cadillac DPI was a really big contrast to the Lola.The Driving style did not change from what I used to and I have to say it’s a wonderful great car. Amazing looking and pretty fast. I liked that very much. The competition in this class was stronger and we knew we only had a chance to win if we made no mistakes. It was a great challenge to the other Cadillac. Competing each other hard but fair was what I liked the most. The Team, Gerard, and myself did drive the car the first time here at Daytona. We did worked a lot on the setup to improve our lap times and get up to speed. We didn’t face any issues during the races, whether strategy, technical, or driver error-wise. Winning that race made me proud and it did show again how well everything was prepared.
Thank you Gerard for the opportunity to share those Iconic Cars with you and a big thanks to the team for giving us such greatly prepared cars. ».
Gerard LOPEZ :
"Daytona is always a special place. As a temple of the racing world, to race there is always a dream come true, we’ve been very often with the opportunity to win. We actually only won twice but we could have win more, so to have two wins the same week end with two special cars is unbelievable.
The Lola is one of favorite car, maybe not the safest but it is analog and exciting, with the Cadillac it was an all new experience, to drive a very modern prototype. Hyper precise, fast and a lot of aero but I found out that one of the biggest issue of the week end was switching from one car to the other.
Marcel is hyper talented and a true champion, but also an amazingly nice person. Its as a pleasure to drive with him and to create a friendship out of a common passion.
The team truly delivered a massive performance in terms of car preparation and strategy."
Florent Moulin :
"Flawless preparation and strategy, stellar drive from Gerard and Marcel, eight clean races and victories, nothing much to say. So proud of Iconic !"
