Former Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric found his GT3 return without difficulty despite last driving a GT3 car at the 2022 Daytona 24 Hours.
Cindric replaced an injured Ben Barker in the pole-sitting #64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 with team-mates and IMSA SportsCar Championship full-season drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx.
“I live only 10 minutes from Multimatic’s facility in Mooresville, North Carolina,” he told Motorsport Week.
“So between that and working with the team quite recently and a lot of the team guys. [It’s been a] pretty good, pretty seamless transition for a guy that hasn’t driven the car.
“I think it definitely has some strengths, it’s obvious from qualifying.
“For me, it’s a pretty easy car to get up to speed with. I felt like by lap three I was on the pace.
“For me, it was like riding a bike. It’s been two years since I’ve driven a proper GT3 car, but they’ve done a great job with the car.
“Obviously, a heavy front-engine V8 car is not something unfamiliar with so from that standpoint, maybe some of my habits are fairly instinctual.”
The 63rd running of the 24 Hours of Daytona will mark Cindric’s sixth start at the iconic race having driven last time in 2023 for Rick Ware Racing, in an Oreca 07 LMP2.
His last GT3 outing was in the year prior for Proton Racing and their Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO in the GTD Pro class.
In his last four starts, he finished either fifth or sixth in-class and so the #64 Ford boasts a realistic, promising chance at GTD Pro victory – against 14 other rivals including Paul Miller Racing, Corvette Racing and Pfaff Motorsports – on 25-26 January from 1.40pm local time.
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