ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA

January 30, 2022

Zacharie Robichon

Ryan Hardwick

Richard Lietz

Jan Heylen

Media Conference

Q. Your third Rolex 24 win, right?

RICHARD LIETZ: Yes.

Q. Since 2014. Talk about the effort the team made to get the win today?

RICHARD LIETZ: Wright Motorsports, I only heard the best before I came here. They really welcomed me in a good way. I felt home from the beginning.

And I immediately saw that the cars were well prepared; the team knew what it was doing. And also from Pat Long, I got the information, the team was spot on.

And the car was great from the beginning. We had a good balance. I was like we could have a chance, but still to do 24 hours without a mistake, have to thank my teammates and the team, auto mechanics, they did a fantastic job with the pit stop and that we could win it.

Q. Ryan, a year ago today where were you?

RYAN HARDWICK: I was just down the road watching this race from a hospital room after a big crash here. So, personally, for me, it was a bit of redemption coming back to this track and not only competing at a high level, but ultimately winning and.

Like Richie said, I'm just blessed to be a part of a great team, full of great management and leadership from John Wright and Bobby Viglione, amazing job. Entire pit crew, there wasn't a single mistake made on pit lane over the whole 24 hours.

And then exceptional driving by all of these guys, especially through the night, with those really cold temperatures. The outlaps and the skill shown through there was amazing.

And then here at the end, Zach and Jan at the end of the race really pushing hard when the game was on. I'm just really blessed to be a part of it.

Q. Talk about the effort you put in to get the win today?

ZACHARIE ROBICHON: It was phenomenal by the whole team, same as Richard said. For me it was my first time being with team. They really welcomed me with open arms. And to go from one organization that was very family-oriented to another one, kind of felt like a second home right from the beginning.

Jan, Ryan have been with this team for a few years now and they showed me the way. They showed me where the coffee and the good chocolate was. And from there it was just a total team effort, to be honest.

From the ground up, every single person on our team was on the ball today. Nobody made a mistake. Today and yesterday, I guess I should say. And it was super special. I've never even finished this race. So I've got a 100 percent success rate for actually finishing the race.

(Laughter)

Q. Jan, quite a few good three months for you. You were in the car the last couple hours. You seemed pretty well in control. Did you feel like you were in control? I know that the Ferrari was there battling for a while, and Aston were kind of close. But you seemed like you guys were in pretty good shape. How did it feel for you out there?

JAN HEYLEN: We were talking about it just now. I think you come into this race so many times, and it's just so hard to win any race, let alone a 24-hour race.

So at the end, with two, three hours to go, it was -- we had a good lead. And I was sure in my mind that it wasn't going to be that easy towards the end. But now there was good speed in the car. And we just had to control our race and not worry about the GT PRO cars. Just super proud to be here with this team that I've been lucky to be a part of for more than seven years now.

And we've come here many times and tried, and so to finally be on the top step is an amazing result.

Q. What did it feel like to deliver for Wright Sports their first Rolex 24 win?

JAN HEYLEN: For me, I've been with the team so long and I know how hard we tried in the past and how close we've come. So it means a lot for me but especially for the team.