REVIEW: MY FIRST ENDURANCE RACE

Fernando Alonso made his Daytona 24h debut this weekend.
This weekend saw a weekend of racing at Daytona International Speedway, as well as the first (closely followed by the second) endurance race I have ever watched.
Friday was the four hour, Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge. I was particularly interested in this one as Ashley Freiberg and Gosia Rdest made history, becoming the first all female driver line-up to compete in Grand-Sport category history.
I managed to watch two and a half hours of the event, which was enough for me to decide I really like endurance racing. While it mostly lacks the excitement of the overtaking battles seen in the likes of Formula 1 or BTCC, the tactical battle and race against time makes it very interesting. Also, multiple classes competing on the same track, at the same time further makes up for the lack of wheel-to-wheel action, as backmarkers and lower-class car often make things nervy for the front runners.
In terms of the race itself, Freiberg and Rdest got unlucky as they hit car problems early on, forcing a long, unplanned second stop and taking them out of contention despite very competitive pace from both drivers. Freiberg's incredible opening lap was a stand out from the race, as the American made up four positions. In the end they finished 19th in class and 23rd overall, but the position didn't do the pair justice.
While Freiberg and Rdest stole most of the attention on the female front, a third female driver had an great stint of her own. 18-year-old Aurora Straus took the #99 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage from 20th to 8th during her spell behind the wheel, however the #99 car wouldn't go much further. Straus' teammate Steven Phillips was part of a four car accident that saw cars 14, 33 and 99 all retire and 22 sustain damage, a crash which Freiberg narrowly avoided as the 14 car as it spun right in front of her.
Pole sitters Dillon Machavern and Spencer Pumpelly brought their Porsche Cayman home for the win in the GS class with 106 laps completed. TCR class was won by Tom Long and Britt Casey Jr. in the Audi RS3, with the pair completing 105 laps. Nick Galante and Devin Jones won the Street Tuner (ST) class, completing 103 laps in their BMW 328i.
Next up was the Rolex 24-Hours at Daytona. I only managed to watch a couple of hours, including the last 40 minutes,where leader Felipe Albuquerque had to manage overheating as he brought his Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi, co-driven by Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, to win.
The race was a history maker, 808 laps (2,876.48 miles), done by the top three cars, broke the 26-year-old lap record of 762, set in 1992 by the Nissan R91 of Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki as well as the 36-year-old mileage record of 2,760.96 set by John Paul Jr., Rolf Stommelen and John Paul Sr. in 1982.
Fernando Alonso had a mixed Daytona 24 debut, leading two laps just before the two hour mark. However, he had braking problems just after the 10 hour mark, forcing an initial 40 minutes spent in the pits as the problem was worked on. Despite getting the car back on track, Alonso's Ligier, co-driven by Phil Hanson and McLaren F1 reserve driver Lando Norris, was littered with brake and throttle issues for the remainder of the race.
Overall, I enjoyed my first experience of endurance racing and definitely intend to watch more when I have the chance.