DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Filipe Albuquerque minced no words when discussing his view of the controversial finish to the 55th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona on Sunday at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Albuquerque was frustrated, and understandably so, following a rapid turn of events with seven minutes to go in the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic that saw Ricky Taylor leap to the inside of turn one in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R for Wayne Taylor Racing, making contact with Albuquerque’s No. 5 Mustang Sampling/Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R that sent the then-race leader spinning in the runoff area.
Just before the contact, Albuquerque had taken the apex of turn one slightly wider than in previous laps, opening up a hole that Taylor saw, recognized and quickly began to fill, leading to the controversial incident.
A quick review of the incident by race officials led to a “no call” by IMSA, allowing Taylor to drive away to the victory alongside younger brother Jordan, the retiring Max Angelelli and retired four-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.
The controversial ‘bump-and-run’ left the 31-year-old Portuguese native hugely disappointed after the race, despite a philosophical outlook thanks to the strong performance of the Action Express team.
“I don’t call it defeat,” Albuquerque said after the race, without hesitation. “In my racing … I know it’s last minute and the last laps of such a big race (as the Rolex 24) and we do whatever we can (to win), but come on. To hit me completely on the rear wheel … and just pull away; I was waiting for at least a five second penalty (to be assessed to Wayne Taylor Racing).”
“It was a good fight until I got hit, to be honest. There is not much to say. I had some GTs ahead of me so I could not brake so late, and I closed the door, but then I got spun. There is not much to say, and yeah, the officials took the decision. That’s what it is. We finished second. It’s not a loss.”
Albuquerque has driven in the Rolex 24 for the past four years, including the last two in the Prototype class with AXR. He said that the team’s performance over the weekend was the best he had seen since joining the team.
“Joao (Barbosa), Christian (Fittipaldi) … we all did a great job getting it (in position), and the car was fantastic. We were doing (what we needed to) well. I mean, they could brake a bit later than we could, but we were a little bit better on the (corner) exits. We need to keep our heads up though, because Action Express did a great job all weekend and it feels like a win.”
Albuquerque’s teammate and co-driver, former Rolex 24 winner and two-time WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titlist Joao Barbosa, was equally as frustrated with the final outcome and offered a hard line in the sand as to how he would have handled the situation if the roles were reversed.
“I probably would have done the same, like because this is a big race, right? So we need to do whatever we can … and we dive in and we brake light, and he knew that it was bad on braking. He went a little bit too much away. It happens. Really it happens.”
“But if it’s a true racer, he did (make) a mistake … just back off. Don’t leave, right? But he left, and then he controlled (the finish). It’s what it is,” Barbosa said. “A true racer in my opinion, in the end, deep inside … I would feel a little bit ashamed with the win.”
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