Paul Newman on form at Daytona historic meeting

Twenty six IMSA, GIP and Group C sportscars provided the most memorable spectacle, and a thrilling finish, as an all-star 285-car entry tackled the fiat Historic event to be run at Florida’s Daytona Speedway last month.

Karl Singer won the hour-long GTP showpiece in his Porsche 962, although the similar car of film star Paul Newman and John Hotchkiss pipped him to the line, only to be hit by a pitlane penalty.

Briton David Leslie, reunited with one of the ex-works Aston Martin AMR1 cars he drove in their heyday, and engineered again by Richard Williams, chased the dominant Porsches home for a top six finish.

Nissans and Lancia LC2s joined a representative field, which contrasted with Ford, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Mirage prototypes from the 1960s and 1970s, and a select group of CanAm monsters.

“The event provided many of the drivers with their first experience of the part-banked 24-Hour course,” said a spokeswoman for organiser HSR. “We can’t wait to return in 1998.”