As the final day of the Enduro Elite racing season arrived, the No. 822 DriveTeq team had an outside chance of finishing Top-3 in the season-long championship. Considering the fact the car blew up a few laps into the first race of the season, the comeback was remarkable.
On Sunday morning, Daniel Demaras had a sense of calm confidence about him. The Saturday win at Shannonville backed up his victory at Mosport weeks earlier. It was vindication that after three years in open wheel racing, he could also perform at a high level in endurance racing.
Seeking to reach victory lane again, Daniel started the Sunday morning race from the sharp end of the grid. There would be faster GT1 machinery around him, but as long as he could consistently hit his lap times for two hours, there was a chance to achieve racing glory again.
At the drop of the green flag, Demaras wasted no time pushing his way to first place in GT2 category, leaving even some GT1 cars behind him. In multi-class racing, getting stuck in the back can kill lap times, and Daniel was determined to have a clear track in front of him to maximize his result.
By this point in the weekend, the race cars had completed over 12 hours at speed, and mechanical failures plus driver attrition became significant factors. Even experienced racers who normally hit their marks lap after lap were even seen spinning out, which is very uncommon.
Young Daniel had no issue with the endurance required for his laps. At the 2-hour mark, he had lapped every GT2 car in the field, and was well ahead. There was no reason to take chances or make overly aggressive maneuvers as he lapped some cars several times.
But the racing gods are fickle. Daniel watched from the pit lane after the driver change, he was proud of what he had accomplished, only to see the No. 822 overshoot a corner and end up in the grass. Not only did the resulting flat tire make the car tumble down the order, but a mechanical issue brought the car back into the pits several times.
The win disappeared, the podium was out of reach, but Demaras was confident that he did everything he could have in this race, and put a consoling arm around the shoulders of his teammates. It just wasn’t meant to be. But looking back on the season finale Enduro Elite event, it was a phenomenal success for DriveTeq with both the No. 821 and No. 822 taking victories in their classes, and the race cars running up front all weekend.
Through adventure, adversity, heartbreaking lows to the highest step on the podium the DriveTeq team of Rick, Gerry, Tim, Luca, Stevie and all the crew helped Daniel Demaras and all the team drivers achieve racing glory.