[Racer Duck]

By John Dagys - Motorsport.com


#70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8: Nick Ham, David Haskell, Raphael Matos, Sylvain Tremblay
GRANDAM > Daytona 24, 2008-01-27 (Daytona International Speedway): Sunday race
Image by Eric Gilbert



SpeedSource came out on top of the GT category of the 46th Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, the opening round for the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. The No. 70 Mazda RX-8, driven by Sylvain Tremblay, Nick Ham, David Haskell and Raphael Matos, defeated the armada of Porsches and other contenders in the twice-around-the-clock road racing marathon.

"It's pretty special," said Tremblay, who's also the team owner. "I've dreamed of this since I've started racing. To win at Daytona has been a dream of mine for a long, long time. When I first talked of getting a Mazda running against the Porsches, it seemed like a joke back then. There was so much that had to happen, so many pieces we had to build. Then we had to convince other people to believe in our team, and pull on from there."

The win marked the first for a production-based GT-spec Mazda in the race since 1993 when Dick Greer, Al Bacon Peter Uria and Mike Mees took their RX-7 GTU to victory lane. All in all, 22 Mazda-powered entries have now triumphed in the 24 Hour at Daytona International Speedway. It also marked an end of an era for one of the manufacturer's archrivals. The 2008 race was the first time that Porsche has not at least taken a class win in the Rolex 24 since 1993, the year of the last Mazda victory.

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