Auto driver Job van Uitert (26) from Dongen and his Tower Motorsports team were disqualified by a defect on the car, after they won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in America last weekend. The price of the most famous long -distance race in the world was a Rolex watch worth around 45,000 euros. “Too bad, because everyone wants such a watch.”
“I have had nicer return flights,” says Job in the Omroep Brabant-Radio program Afslag Zuid. The driver was just back in Dongen after he won the 24 -hour race on the Daytona circuit last weekend.
There is a kind of wooden floor in a racing car, a bottom plate is called it. According to the rules in motorsport, this plate should have a minimal thickness.
“The floor too badly worn away.”
“During our race, a rubber damper broke down, so that the car was lower than it should be. We have drained the floor too much during the race and that is not allowed according to the rules,” Job explains.
That was a big damper for Job and his teammates, each of whom rode around 118 laps at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour.
“I didn’t really realize that we had won, so that doesn’t make it easy. Yet something like that is never fun. This was the first race for me in which we were the first to cross the finish line,” says the driver disappointed.
Six times before, Job rode the world -famous 24 hours of Le Mans in France. The race in the American Daytona was the third time for him, this time at the invitation of a former teammate to join the team as an extra weapon for the long competition.
“Hand in the watch after two days.”
Job and his teammates each received a Rolex watch worth forty -five thousand euros as a prize. “I had it for two days and I have to hand in again. A shame because everyone in motorsport wants to win this watch.”
If the driver had the choice between the win or the watch, he knew it. “Then that watch,” laughs Job.
Yet, despite the disqualification, he does not look at his participation differently. “In retrospect it remains a unique experience.”
More than ever, he is now keen to do it differently next year. “In motorsport you always have one winner and many losers. I’m not going to stop until I get that one winner.”
