NASCAR‘s successful 24 Hours of Le Mans entry has netted the sanctioning body the Dino Toso Racecar Aerodynamicist of the Year Award at the Race Tech World Motorsport Symposium in London. Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, NASCAR’s Vice President of Vehicle Performance, and Brandon Thomas, Vice President of Vehicle Design Brandon Thomas accepted the award.
The project was a Garage 56 entry intended to showcase new innovations at Le Mans, as a celebration of NASCAR’s seventy-fifth anniversary. NASCAR fielded a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Next Gen car modelled after the one used in the Cup Series, with top Chevrolet team Hendrick Motorsports, tyre supplier Goodyear, and even IMSA coming together to oversee its development.
Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, 2009 Formula One World Champion-turned-NASCAR road course ringer Jenson Button, and DTM star Mike Rockenfeller split the #24 car. Despite its massive size, it easily kept pace with the LMGTE field even in rainy conditions and ran as high as thirtieth before a driveline problem with four hours remaining sent them to the garage.
They reached the finish nonetheless, finishing thirty-ninth overall. It was the third Garage 56 entry to complete the race.
After Le Mans, Button and Rockenfeller brought the backup car to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
NASCAR defeated Red Bull Racing and Ferrari‘s Le Mans-winning division for the award. The Dino Toso Racecar Aerodynamicist of the Year Award, whose namesake won two F1 championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006 before his passing in 2008 following a cancer battle, hase been awarded since 2005. Hendrick’s aerodynamics engineer head Kurt Romberg was the recipient in 2007.