DAYTONA BEACH, Florida, January 6, 2019 — Kris Wright returned to Daytona International Speedway this weekend to prepare for his first 24-hour endurance race, the 57th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona, scheduled for January 24-27 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Roar Before the Rolex 24 three-day test days saw the Pittsburgh, Pa. driver top the charts for the No. 38 Oreca LMP2 team in three of the five practice sessions.
Wright has previously raced at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway three times, including driving an LMP3 entry to a podium (third-place) finish last year in the IMSA Prototype Challenge race.
“I’m glad to be back at Daytona,” said the 24-year-old driver. “It’s a special track and I enjoy racing here. I’m still trying to get myself up to 100% with the LMP2 car. It’s different and faster that the LMP3 I’ve previously driven. There’s probably another 10-15% more in me still to come.
“I spoke with (driver coach) Nic (Jonsson) extensively about the differences of driving between the two cars and classes and navigating through the traffic. The closing difference between the cars in the three classes is unbelievable. You really have to see what you’re going to do ahead of you and be ready. The biggest thing is to keep the car in one piece. I want to get the entire 24-hours of racing under my belt. It’s a learning curve, but I want to finish it. That will be a good accomplishment. I was relieved to have good weather this week and hope the same for the race.”
Kris will continue to work on his intense training program in the next two weeks before returning to the Daytona Superspeedway later this month for the twice-around-the-clock enduro.
For more information go to KrisWrightMotorsports.com. Fans can also follow him on Facebook at Kris Wright Racing. The series' Web site is at imsa.com.