TRG-AMR/Lasalle Solutions Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Weekend Recap
TRG-Aston Martin Racing with LaSalle Solutions/Royal
Purple/Orion Energy Systems/PassTime USA kicked off the 2015 major league
sports car season with its 20th consecutive year of running at the Rolex 24
Hours at Daytona. Opening week could not have begun better as the 007 V12 Aston
Martin Vantage GT3 piloted by James Davison captured the coveted pole position
in the highly competitive GTD Class. Both the 007 and 009 entries sponsored by
LaSalle Solutions finished strong but were unfortunately hampered by tough
luck.
Team owner Kevin Buckler viewed the overall weekend with
mixed results, having seen tremendous success around the teams’ cutting edge
marketing and partnership programs but encountering some unfortunate
circumstances on the racetrack.
The race started off in fine fashion with both cars
running strong. In the 007, James Davison handed the car off to Christina
Nielsen, who put in a flawless double stint for her opening round before
handing the car off to teammate Brandon Davis. Sitting comfortably on the lead
lap, Davis was finishing his double stint about to hand the car off to Danish
driver Christoffer Nygaard before catastrophe struck and the car was taken out
of the race by a Ferrari reentering the racetrack after a spin. The 007 would
ultimately finish in P13 after an amazing effort by the crew and drivers to get
the car on track and salvage as many championship points as possible.
The 009 team of Riddle, Salazar, Deboer and Wilson did an
outstanding job of driving clean, fast, and smart throughout the entire race.
The team dealt with only a small electrical issue and finished strongly in P8
after 24 grueling hours.
Aside from the racing, TRG-AMR used the historic event
and facilities to help host what became one of the most engaging and exciting
showcases of sponsorships, partnerships and true B2B relationship marketing
ever inside the IMSA paddock. TRG-AMR welcomed their sponsors, executive
staffs, decision makers, and other guests and influential VIP's to the track,
filling the TRG-AMR hospitality suite and pit area to capacity and playing a
big part of the overall weekend program. Guests were escorted around the circuit
throughout the entire 24 hours as they were shown the best vantage points from
which to watch the 007 and 009 V12 Vantage GT3 racing machines, as well as to
interact with all of the guests and other activities.
A huge part of the unfolding story involved the an
in-depth media and marketing campaign with TRG-AMR’s team taking to Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit in new ways never done before. In 2009, TRG was
the first to ever live-stream footage and interviews from the pit box,
conducting interviews and chat room discussions with the various drivers and
guests throughout the entire 24 hours. With more than a few teams emulating the
live stream program over the past years, Buckler decided it was time to do
something different.
This time TRG-AMR turned to Reddit and its active user
base of over 300 million accounts, utilizing both a Live Feed updates page and
a Reddit-only AMA. AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything” and the fans sure listened.
Everything from driver lineups to questions about the team’s inner workings and
even inquiries regarding the drivers’ eating and personal habits during such an
intense race were on the table. All the fans seemed to enjoy the easy access to
team information with more than 50,000 registered users viewing and/or engaging
the Reddit activity pages throughout the 24-hour enduro.
Complementing the innovative marketing activities were
the team’s typical utilization of traditional and social media channels.
Leveraging Buckler’s longtime relationship with McNeilly Communications and its
managing partner George McNeilly, TRG-AMR’s efforts generated an enormous
amount of buzz in the garage area and earned a slew of print, radio, and
television appearances and mentions, including a front page story in the
Orlando Sentinel by columnist George Diaz and a story in the works by New York
Times technology writer Farhad Manjoo, who attended the race with a
photographer. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were filled with fantastic
pictures and videos from inside the operations of the team and included some
at-track produced video updates every six hours throughout the duration. All of
the team's videos and other media related links are included further down this
release.
Also of note were the number of news outlets who spent
considerable time with Buckler, Davison, Wilson and Davis, along with fellow
rising-star drivers including Christina Nielsen, Derek Deboer, Max Riddle and
open wheel legend Eliseo Salazar, as well as many of the TRG-AMR sponsors.
As an added treat, sponsors and others who sought special
guest experience packages, enjoyed an exclusive seven course Adobe Road wine
dinner at the historic Halifax River Yacht Club. The wine pairing/dinner -
hosted by Buckler and his wife Debra who also own Adobe Road Winery along with
partner Kenneth Greenberg - was held in the private ballroom atop the yacht
club overlooking the Halifax River with the opening reception held on a
beautiful new 90-foot Viking sportfishing boat there at the dock.