|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TUDOR UNITED SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP: ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONAJanuary 25, 2015Al CarterDominik FarnbacherBen KeatingCameron LawrenceKuno WittmerDAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA NATE SIEBENS: We're being joined now by our GTD Rolex 24 at Daytona champions, the No.93 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT 3R. Ben, let's start with you. Obviously a huge win for your team here. Give us your thoughts, please. BEN KEATING: Unbelievable win for our team. For those of you who don't know, I would say a Viper racer first but then became a Viper seller. I'm a car dealer in Texas, the No.1 volume Viper dealer in the world, and it's something I'm very passionate about, and the joy of being able to win the Rolex 24 in a Viper is emotional (tearing up). We brought on a new sponsor this year with TI Automotive, which was really much more of a partnership with a technical side of fueling and braking and even making our AC more efficient in the car. With SRT and Dodge deciding to spend their money in other ways, it's incredible to‑‑ all those incredible things that they had that won Kuno the driver's championship last year in GT LeMans trickled down into our program. It's just really special. NATE SIEBENS: Dominik, let's get your thoughts. Obviously you've been here before but it's been a while. What's it mean to you? DOMINIK FARNBACHER: Yeah, it's been a while. Last year in the GTLM Class we were pretty close. We were strong, too. Unfortunately we didn't finish that well. We only got third, even though we had a pretty strong car, and this year the Riley and of course Ben Keating and TI Automotive made it possible for us to compete again and to repeat the whole situation again but just in a different class, different category, and this time we were lucky and were strong enough to win, and it means a lot to us, all of us. We're all very emotional at the moment. It's a big achievement for Chrysler, for the Viper people, which we were very sad when the program was pulled, and now we can give them at least a thumbs up. NATE SIEBENS: Cameron, kind of a newcomer here to the series as well as this team. Pretty good way to get things rolling here. CAMERON LAWRENCE: Yeah, I was lucky enough to get asked by Ben and Bill to come test in November and got the opportunity to do this race, and my first 24 to win with this group of guys and Viper Exchange and TI Automotive is unreal. I don't think it's sunk in yet. Like Dom said, we're all very emotional. This is something for me I never thought would happen, at least this soon. First time, I just don't have any words for it to explain it correctly. I've just got to thank all the guys, the crew, Bill, all the guys that made this happen, and to let me win with this group of drivers and these guys is unbelievable. NATE SIEBENS: Kuno, obviously off to a solid start here this year at the Rolex 24 after taking the championship in GTLM last year. Pretty good run. Tell us about how it feels today. KUNO WITTMER: Yeah, I think we could all see the emotions on Ben's face and that pretty much sums up everything, everything that we've gotten to and everything we've done so far. For everybody in the room and the fans and everybody, we're not just weekend warriors that are weekend hires. We're family. We're more than that. We've worked together since 2012, and some of us before that. Yeah, unfortunately our program got pulled, but I think it's the cooperation of Ben Keating and Bill Riley and some others that were able to retain us family, keep us together and get it going, and to pull on TI Automotive, Viper Exchange, two amazing companies, two amazing people with just a great passion, amazing people behind the whole thing, and to get a great car on the grid, as we saw today, the Viper was very, very competitive, although we were not the quickest cars on track, we were just the smartest team, and here we are. NATE SIEBENS: Al, your feelings on being a part of this? AL CARTER: You feel it in Ben's emotion, and I know that we all share that. Like Cameron, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity by Ben and Bill to test with them, and quickly what I realized was they had the best prepared team and the best personnel that I've encountered in my relatively short career, so for me it's kind of an honor to be a part of the team. For my personal self where I'm maybe a little older than the rest of the guys and maybe I didn't start off in a racing background, but I've been around here for‑‑ this is my fifth visit to Daytona, it's not my fifth 24, but for me to be part of these guys, to have their respect and affirmation and just to be part of it, and then actually all of us contributed during the driving, backing up the crew, and what we did was we did not make one mistake. There was five drivers, and we all contributed. For me to be part of that, receive a Rolex and be part of these guys day, you call it like a tombstone moment because that's how special it is. Since it's not my first win like Cameron's, I know how difficult they are and what has to go right, and Riley, TI Automotive and all these guys that have been working together for the last couple years, they won this race today because of their ethic and how they prepared as well as their talent, and for me it's very special. Q. I think this one is for Ben, but more than happy to hear from Dom or Kuno. It's about Bill Riley. I think it's quite unusual in the modern era for a guy to have designed cars, to have won in a prototype and a GT class at a major sports car race. Just want to hear a little bit about what you guys think about Bill and the people that he's got working for him. BEN KEATING: After the checkered flag, I turned to Bill, and I said, two out of four isn't bad. You know, he is extremely passionate about it, and his father Bob is extremely involved still, as well. It really is a family‑run business. I was really a strong force behind pushing Chrysler to actually build a GT 3R, a GT 3 Viper because I wanted to race at this level and I wanted to race what I sell. So in 2013 I ran a Porsche in GTC with ALMS and it just didn't feel right. Chrysler had already teamed up with Riley for the GTSRs and GT Le Mans, and it was the right fit for Bill to build it, and I bought the first one, and we worked together to‑‑ I guess he developed it while I drove it. But it really is special. I mean, he is everything from A to Z, from the machine shop to the engineer to the strategist. It's pretty incredible. I love going to the shop and seeing pictures of the Le Mans wins in the mid 60s that Bob Riley had, everything from there to the present. I can't remember how many wins Riley has at the Daytona Rolex 24, but it's a bunch. I think it's over 20. It's a really incredible run. NATE SIEBENS: Gentlemen, congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|