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Dempsey Racing's Visit Florida RX-8 takes third-place podium finish in GT class.
The 24 Hours of Daytona, which began on January 29th at 3:30, finished at the same time on Sunday, the 30th. In the GT class, Dempsey Racing's #40 Visit Florida RX-8 (Foster/Dempsey/Espenlaub/Long) car, after starting from a qualifying position of 15th-place, reached first place nine hours in. In the early morning hours they lost the lead due to going off track and trouble restarting the engine, but they ran the 24-hour race through to the end, and finished third in the GT class. They circled the track 681 times. The team's owner and driver, TV actor Patrick Dempsey, said, "It was a good weekend, and we had our best race as a team. I slept well on Saturday night, so I was refreshed in the morning. But as the race went on, I worried that my own time might be pulling the team's pace down or that I might make a mistake. I'm grateful to Joe and Charles for being good instructors. I feel that this result is truly exceptional." As he spoke, Dempsey was moved to tears.
Last year's ROLEX GT series champion car, the #69 FXDD RX-8 (Assentato/Segal/Ham/Lazzaro), retired due to a crash. Their teammates and last year's 24 Hours of Daytona champion machine the #70 Castrol RX-8 (Edwards/Trembley/Christodoulou/Bomarito) finished sixth despite sustaining severe body damage due to a burst tyre early in the race.
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