Nicolas Varrone was very close to conquering the traditional ones for the second time 24 Hours of Daytonawhich this Sunday inaugurated the season of the series International Motor Sport Association (IMSA). On board the Corvette of the Pratt Miller Motorsportswhich he shared with the American Tommy Milner and the dutch Nicky Catsburgfought until the end for victory in the category GTD Pro. But a controversial maneuver when he was fighting for the podium – which many saw as “revenge” for a touch that one of his teammates had suffered earlier while they were leading the race – cost him a penalty and relegated him to seventh place in the standings.
Varrone, who had won the event in 2023 in LMP3was in charge of driving the Corvette in the last leg of the competition. He took the wheel when the car was sixth and, with a new demonstration of his enormous talent and experience in endurance racing, he climbed three places to be in position on the podium. However, with 10 minutes left until the checkered flag, he decided to take a risk to go for the victory and it backfired.
The Argentine tried to pass the South African in a curve Kelvin van der Linde and to German Christopher Miesbut in the fight he hit the BMW of the African, who went off the track. For that touch he received a penalty for excessive maneuvering that forced him to make an extra pit stop. And the one born in Ingeniero Maschwitz 24 years ago and his companions had to settle for seventh place, while the victory went to Mies, Frédéric Vervisch y Dennis Olsenwith a Ford Mustang.
Varrone’s maneuver – current two-time champion of the mythical 24 Hours of Le Mansin 2023 in GTE-Am and in 2024 in LMP2 Pro-Am – went viral on social networks, in which many celebrated the “courage” that the man from Buenos Aires had in going for victory. Others pointed out that the crash for the South African was a kind of “settling of scores” with the team’s BMWs. Paul Miller Racing.
The thing is that with about three hours left in the race, Milner was leading with the Corvette of the Pratt Miller Motorsportsfollowed by his compatriot Connor De Phillippi aboard one of the BMW. In his eagerness to steal first place, De Phillippi collided with Milner and caused damage to the rear of the crash, which forced him to stop the pits to repair the car and give up a lot of ground.
The controversy in that incident was generated because the Brazilian Augusto Farfuswho was ahead of Milner with the other BMW and 50 laps lost, blocked Varrone’s teammate and did not let him pass him. And being “boxed” between the two vehicles, the American could not escape the impact.
For this reason, Varrone’s touch on van der Linde at the end of the race seemed to many like “revenge.” But the Argentine’s words before some local media after the end seemed to indicate the opposite.
“I thought he was going to go out to prepare for the start, I went inside and we touched each other. It wasn’t my intention. I tried to go for the gap for the podium, but it was a bad maneuver. I’m sorry,” said Varrone, a friend of Franco Colapinto who dreams of reaching Formula 1 as a General Motors driver.
On the other hand, Luis Pérez Compancthe other Argentine present in the race, could not even cross the finish line. He Oreca 07-Gibson of the team AF Corsewhich the Buenos Aires native drove alongside Nicklas Nielsen y Matthieu Vaxivièresuffered a mechanical failure when he was leading with the Frenchman at the wheel and was out of competition, with 120 laps to go before the checkered flag.