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IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP: ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA


January 28, 2018


Mirko Bortolotti

Rik Breukers

Rolf Ineichen

Franck Perera


Dayton Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We have the members of our GTD winners, car No. 11, the GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini. Joining us here Rolff Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti and Franck Perera and Rik Breukers. Can you give us your thoughts about winning the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, for all these winners it’s their first win in class at the Rolex 24?
RIK BREUKERS: It was an incredible race, it was really amazing. I mean, we're starting from the back. We fight our way to the front. We didn't make any mistakes. I'm really proud of Lamborghini on the Grasser Racing Team. All of the members, we didn't make any mistakes. I cannot believe it. I'm speechless.
MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: It's a big day for us, definitely. As Rik mentioned, coming from the back of the field, makes it even more special, I guess. I don't know if this happened before but I don't care‑‑ coming from last position, winning such an important race, it's great. Just so proud of everyone, of the whole team, and Lamborghini obviously. We've been working so hard to make this happen.
Personally, I just‑‑ quite speechless about this. It's really a big thing, big day. I'm really happy. I want to say thanks to everyone, also to the fans for coming down here for this race, the atmosphere in Daytona is always mega. It's even more special to win this race.
FRANCK PERERA: For sure, I'm happy, too. It was an incredible race. Like Mirko say, we started from the last but we knew it's longer. Everyone, every teammate did an amazing job during all the race, and the car was really amazing, and for me it was the first time in Daytona and with the Lambo. So it's a great start for sure.
This is good for all the season, and it was so much pleasure to drive here. It remind me when I was in IndyCar 10 years ago. So it's really cool. I want to thank my teammate, the Lamborghini (inaudible) and for sure Grasser. All the team did an incredible job.
ROLFF INEICHEN: For me, I just can say it's really a great day. Like Mirko said, like everybody said, starting from the back I think this was the point of the race, what we did here.
It's a great success what we tried many times before to win a 24‑hour race for Lamborghini but we were not successful. Now we are in Daytona. This is special. It's really, really special. It's a big dream, I think, of everybody to win here in Daytona. We did it now. We did it for Lamborghini, and we're really proud on that.
But it's not only Lamborghini, it's the whole team. It's Grasser Racing, with (inaudible) our team chief, also a big thanks to him to his effort, his doing really every day to give us a car that is competitive. And we really had one‑‑ we were not the fastest on the grid, but we had a car to win and we were really, really proud on that. And thanks a lot to the team. They did not do any mistakes. All the car crews, all the mechanics, all the pit stops were really good.
So big thanks to everybody. It's a team job. Thanks to my teammates. It's really, really a great day.

Q. Mirko, in the last stint, Jeroen Bleekemolen came very close before he pitted, and then I think Parente was too far away to catch you. Were you very scared when he closed up to your car?
MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: No. (Chuckling).

Q. In your category, you run Continental, we saw during the race, especially in the prototype class, a lot of tire problems, tire failures. Your tire is different. Your car is different. Nevertheless it's a Continental. Were you a little bit scared that similar things could happen to your car?
  MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: I have a longer answer for that if I can. We came from Dubai where we had a lot of tire issues. So, yeah, sure that was on our mind, definitely the whole weekend.
  So we for sure set it up in a way where we kind of were, you cannot be 100percent sure but definitely we were being, having a special look at that and it worked. So I'm really happy. I want to thank the team because they made the right calls.

Q. Your sister car, No. 19, is it very identical to your car? I think you're transferring technical information, right, to the second Grasser car.
MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: The sister car is exactly the same. Why should it be different?

Q. Because maybe the drivers have different requirements on the second car.
MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: We don't know exactly what the other drivers‑‑ definitely you can always work on a setup. But in terms of car it's the same specs. So definitely maybe you do some small things on the sister car different because the drivers that drive that car require different driving style or whatever they like, a different kind of setup. It can be that there are some small things different compared to ours. I have to double‑check that to be honest. Or we have to double‑check it.

Q. Franck, your career has spanned a lot of different racing series. It stopped and started a few times. Tell me about what this win means for you. I have to imagine it's very significant.
FRANCK PERERA: Yeah, for sure. I did a lot of series in my career. And for me, to be back in America 10 years ago has been a lot. But, yeah, I had good success with different (indiscernible) in GT, and now to start this new relation with Grasser and Lamborghini is very important for me. And for sure to have a weekend like that I cannot imagine better.
But now we have a long season to come in in Europe, so it's good for everybody to start like that.

Q. How cool is it to get a Rolex watch for winning this race?
RIK BREUKERS: Well, of course, it's amazing. Normally I couldn't wear any Rolex. To get my first Rolex by a race win is truly amazing. I really like the watch as well. So I'm happy.
UNIDENTIFIED: I will say cool, cool Rolex.
FRANCK PERERA: Nice, nice. It's good to have one, yeah.
For me it's really special. It's ‑‑ to have the watch that means the real Daytona here to track, the remembrance you will take when you are getting older, I guess. So it's really special. It's not only the Rolex, it's for me to remember the Daytona, what counts.

Q. You guys are kind of a newer team. How did that come together so quickly to end up here today, for any of you?
MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: Well, we started quite early. It's already the fourth year together for me with Grasser crew. We started‑‑ I was lucky enough to be part of the development process of the work on GT3 back in 2014. I know the guys really well.
We have been through many bad, bad days in order to get where we are now. So it's not like you start yesterday and the day after you get the results. It's really hard work over a pretty long distance, amount of time.
Actually, we managed to make steps every season forward in the right direction, not only with the car but especially with the team because in endurance racing, I don't have to explain to you guys how it works, but it's so many different factors that can make the difference. And you have to go down the hard way in order to understand what kind of things you have to improve in order to be successful. And we managed to do so at least here in Daytona getting this incredible result. So I'm really, really proud again of the team and what we achieved.

Q. Your name goes in the history books for the win. But also for the first time ever for Lamborghini and how special is that for you guys? Have you all talked about‑‑ since that win coming in here, what was the mood like and what does the team, the organization back in the garage?
ROLFF INEICHEN: Well, I think it's a goal where we are working not only this season, not only today, it's the hard work we did the past years now. And it means really a lot. It means a lot for Lamborghini as well. We're proud that we can be the team that achieved this.
But as I said before, it's not only us, we are just a small part of it. We are the lucky guys who can sleep in the night. All the engineers, they had to stay awake, all the mechanics had to stay awake. We could have had to sleep or the most of us. And, yeah, it's really teamwork, what we did here. And we're really proud to drive a Lamborghini. I think all of us, yeah, it's for us a great day and I think it's also a really great day for Lamborghini.
MIRKO BORTOLOTTI: The mood was definitely great because coming from (indiscernible) title last year, both endurance and the overall title, plus a great start to the year in Dubai with the third position and a podium finish, the mood was great within the team, definitely. We came to Daytona with the aim to have a strong result. Definitely you cannot come to Daytona and say we're going to win. It's impossible. Because it's the level of competition is so high. And as I said before, so many factors within the race can really make a difference to your own race. But we definitely had a good mood and we're well prepared for the race, but you're never well prepared enough to win a race like that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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