Rolex 24 At Daytona is a 24-hour endurance race which was held in January 2014 in Florida. The Russian team SMP Racing was among its participants.
The Russian team joined the GTD class (GT Daytona) and entered a Ferrari 458 Italia. The pilots Mikhail Aleshin, Mika Salo, Maurizio Mediani, Sergey Zlobin and Boris Rotenberg were part of the SMP Racing crew driving the car No.72. The SMP Racing pilot Mikhail Aleshin spent the final section of the 24 hours of Daytona behind the wheel of the racing car painted in the colours of the Russian flag. It was Mikhail who set the best team time in this race —- 1:47.517. The Russian driver was the fourth to cross the finish line. After the race, the car of the Level 5 team, which finished first in the GTD class, was penalised for an «avoidable contact» thus losing a few positions. The incident took place inside the oval section of the Daytona circuit. According to the final results of the race, the SMP Racing team climbed the podium and was given a prize for taking the third place in the GTD class. However, after the podium ceremony, during which the SMP Racing team was awarded for taking the third place in the 24 hours of Daytona, the penalty against the Level 5 team was rescinded by the race officials.
Video concept by E. Malinka
Camera and editing by M. Tikhomirov
Voice by Rick