Myers Riley Motorsports: How a Dynasty Team Races the Rolex 24

Welcome to the 24 Hours of Daytona [0:00]

Romain Grosjean: 24 hour races are very unique. It's a very long challenge. It's a very tough challenge. But they're also really cool racing.

Felipe Fraga: This is my seventh Daytona. This is the most full race I ever saw. It's a lot of people coming.

Jenson Altzman: I've come a long way. Being able to be here with Ford Racing, and on their ladder system, and make my debut.

Sheena Monk: As soon as the 2026 program started coming to light, I was full tilt back in the gym, really strict on how I was eating. I felt ready, and I felt really good coming into this year.

Greg: The Rolex 24 is no Sunday drive. 60 teams, 228 drivers and 2,000-odd personnel all answer the call to race the distance from New York to LA in just 24 hours. If you win, you're immortal and you take home a timepiece that's, well, timeless. But if you lose, you get nothing.

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In a race where you're competing against the best of the best, where your rivals are your teammates and your teammates are your rivals, and where the elements and the clock are doing everything, they can to wear you down. Some drivers and teams have risen above the rest. But what does it take for a dynasty team to win such an iconic test of mind and matter? And what happens when the plan inevitably falls apart? We followed Myers Riley Motorsports to find out.

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What is so special about the Rolex 24? [1:35]

Romain: I discovered Riley last year through the Lamborghini project. Bill was like, “We have an opportunity.” And my first question is, “Do we have a chance to win?” He said yes. I said, “Okay, well, I'm in.”

Greg: You're no stranger to endurance racing. You finished fourth in your first ever Rolex. Now you're here with Myers Riley, you've got Felipe [Fraga], Jenson [Altzman], Sheena [Monk]. Of all the races that you've been in, what sets this one apart from the rest?

Romain: Every 24-hour race is special. I've done Spa 24 hours, I've done Le Mans 24 [Hours] two times, and now, three times maybe this one. It's a human challenge for everyone. It's tough. It's a long race. It's a very long challenge. It's a very tough challenge. But at the end of last year, I was like, “I've got to be in Daytona no matter what.” So, I'm just glad to be here.

Greg: What is it about this team, this group of people, the drivers that you're going to be sharing the car with that has you really excited for this race? And then obviously for the rest.

Sheena: Who doesn't want to say that they've been driving with a Formula 1 driver? We've got Felipe. He just won his stock car championship. Jenson's the junior factory driver. And as far as the team goes, you've got people that have won this race 20 times. They've got the recipe.

Greg: Winning this event once is an accomplishment. Winning it 20 times is legendary. The number of things that need to go right between the preparation to crossing the finish line makes winning the Rolex 24 nearly impossible. Myers Riley has overcome these obstacles to become a team that is known to win.

Jenson: I started this session. We did a break bed. We ended up running those breaks that whole session up until the end. Sheena got in. She was just doing a little bit of a balance check, and then we put [Felipe] Fraga in to do some setup work. We just ran through a few different options. One was a bigger change. We did that at the end.

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How a race team prepares the car for four different drivers [3:26]

Greg: When the team stands on the top step of the podium, it's easy to forget all of the work that's gone on behind the scenes to get them to that point. For four drivers who come from very different backgrounds and all practice different driving styles, sharing a car can seem like a nightmare.

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Romain: And then from the setup we tried, you tried, which one do you prefer?

Jenson: Your steers off in one. It's free off in three, tied off in five. Breaking was more intervention overall.

Felipe: Feeling? It looks like I'm not going to stop in turn one. But now you can rely more on the brake under the corner, but on the big brakes, in turn one and five, I feel a lot of intervention.

Noah Propps (Race Engineer): So it might just be a pedal feel thing.

Felipe: I lose the car here, and then I lose there, and when I saw it was really going to the tire man, like, oh.

Romain: Good luck on the setup. Which one are we picking out of the three? That was the question.

Greg: These differences are what brings the teams together. Putting a former F1 driver in the same car as a Brazilian stock car driver, and two sports car drivers, comes with a host of challenges. But overcoming those challenges is what makes this race so irresistible.

Romain: I really enjoyed sharing the car with teammates, learning from them and making sure that we all as a team are as fast as we can go. You know, it'd be nice if the car is perfect for me, but it's really bad for the others or vice versa. It makes no sense. We all have to make sure we find the best compromise to go fast.

Greg: Are there things that you look for in the way that the team operates that gives you confidence?

Romain: Yeah. Details. Details on how you prepare the car. Details on how you prepare the 24 hours. I think we're doing a good job on engineering. We don't try to reinvent the wheel, but it's also how we operate the car, what we look for in the race, what we want to achieve and when we want to achieve it. And I guess all those years of experience, those details at the end make a big difference.

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Every driver has a different role on the team [5:20]

Romain and Sheena talking before Qualifying:

Romain: Pouring water all over you.

Romain: Have fun. We're not going to save the world no matter what.

Sheena: I know.

Romain: Okay.

Sheena: You might.

Romain: You drive it like a grandmother [inaudible], and then you drive it like you stole it.

Sheena: Good, yeah.

Romain: There you go.

Sheena: You got it.

Romain: Easy. I'll be watching.

Greg: What's the role that you're playing with this group this weekend? 

Romain: Well, I'm the fourth guy, right? I'm the fun fourth. I think they call me.

Felipe: Before we end, what’s the name of the thing you use below the helmet?

Romain: A balaclava.

Noah: Head sock.

Jenson: Who said it? Thank you Noah!

Felipe: He says ‘head sock’.

Romain: [Jokingly] What? What’s wrong with you?

Felipe: Head sock is more like… the other thing you use.

Laughter from the group.

Romain: Finished. Game over.

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It all comes down to race day [6:30]

Greg: After more than a month of preparation and in front of record-breaking crowds. There was no turning back now.

Felipe: I came here in 2019 for the first time, and I was very young, and it's a special one for me because I have my son here for the first time with my wife.

Jenson: This is my first time doing a 24-hour, the longest race I've ever done was four hours, so it's quite a bit different. I've talked to a lot of people coming into this race trying to understand if there's anything I can really do. And the common theme seemed to be “Don't overthink it.” Right? It's just a 24-hour race. The more you think about it, oh, this is a big deal. There's a lot of people here. It's the longest race of the year. It's the first race of the year. The more likely you are to make a mistake.

Sheena: There's an excitement in him that like, I almost cried telling him about it, I was like, ‘Dude, on race day, you're going to see the crowds, and you're going to be around your family,’ and I'm like, I want you at one point to just be quiet and look around and be like, “oh my God, I am here. And I'm doing this” because it is one of the coolest moments of your whole life. So, I'm very excited for him.

Greg: What was that thing about this race that you just don't get from the cameras and all, even for the spectators. What's that magical moment?

Sheena: The pre-race is interesting because it's like a hurry up and go, and then let's wait for a while. So, it's like you do the driver intros, you're really hopped up and there's a lot of energy. And then you go to the box and you're sitting there, and I start to try to put myself in the right headspace, and it's like managing the way that energy is going for you. I think that's one of the challenges.

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Greg: In a 24-hour race, the first lap and the last lap are the hardest. Sheena was first in the car. Not only did she have to fight her way from the back of the grid, she had to do so while surviving the opening lap carnage.

Austin Frazier (Front Mechanic): We’re about three hours into the race right now. Both the stops I think went great. We took tires on two stops. We've stopped now for fuel three times. Everything went to plan with our stops, everyone up top doing a good job of watching the car and the data and everything and making sure we're in a good spot and keeping the car healthy on track. Other than that, it's just consistency with our stops and whatnot.

Greg: After her first stint, Sheena debriefed the team while Romain jumped behind the wheel. Felipe suited up and Jenson kept himself dialed in for his Rolex 24 debut.

Sheena: It's quite a struggle actually. The second stint got a little bit better. The car was incredibly hot. We were able to diagnose why the air wasn't working properly. Tire pressures were quite high. And then finally on the third stop, the car was working quite well. So, I was starting to feel comfortable pushing the car.

Felipe: So far, it's been a good race. Romain is now during the race P9, which is already very good, we gained like 11 positions. There was a lot of crashes already, but we are safe. So far, we just need to keep safe. Still like more than 20 hours to go. So, it's still a lot of racing still.

Romain: And you know there's going to be a lot happening and that if you're not too bad, you have a good chance to have a good result on Sunday.

Jenson: Clean laps are what we really need. As long as we're on the lead lap and every single body part is on the car, with an hour to go, we can still win the race no matter what position we're in. So, just getting excited.

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When disaster strikes… [10:02]

Romain [on radio]: It's broken. I can’t drive. The steering wheel is broken. Pulling, left pulling I think. Left, front left [inaudible] pulling.

Engineer [on radio]: Yeah. Copy that. We need to change the steering rack here, Felipe. So, it’s going to be a minute.

IMSA Broadcast: The Myers Riley Motorsport Mustang, the #16 car of Romain Grosjean, has been retired.

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Making the tough decision to retire the car and why a DNF isn’t all bad [10:25]

Jenson: Unfortunately, we had a little bit of an issue. We had some contact. And it looks like it broke the steering rack. It's quite a lengthy change. Even if we were really prepared to do it, it's at least an hour. So, I think the common consensus was going to call it, save the car and not risk, again, any more damage for the rest of the evening when we're pretty much out of the running. 

On Lap 116, while Grosjean was running in 10th place, the car made contact with the No. 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3. The impact resulted in a terminal steering failure, forcing the team to pit. Upon inspection, it was determined that the repairs would be too time-consuming to remain competitive. Consequently, the team made the difficult decision to retire the car, ending their 2026 bid just four hours after the start. 

Jenson: This is racing. In racing, you win some and you lose most. There's no way to sugarcoat it, right? This stuff sucks.

Sheena to Jenson: Guess what? That just means you get to redo your first one again. This wasn't even your first one.

Sheena: I feel horrible for Jenson because this was his first one, and he didn't even get in the car.

Jenson: At the end of the day. Not the way I wanted my first Daytona to go, but I just tried to remind myself personally that I've came a long way. My name was on a car that was out there. I didn't get to drive, but just to be here is a special feeling. We'll all just try to cheer each other up, brush it off and head to the next one.

Greg: And just like that, despite all the planning, all the practice, all the pep talks, the number 16 Myers Riley Ford Mustang was taken out in an instant. The Rolex 24 is unforgiving, even for a dynasty team.

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