This was the 18th time Dyson Racing had been at the Daytona 24 Hours, and they've won it twice, but a third victory wasn't to be on this occasion as the Crawford Porsche retired in the 10th hour with engine-related problems.

A relatively late change from a Pontiac to Porsche engine prior to the race meant that it was going to be a challenge technically, integrating a completely new unit into the car, and so it proved.

“A number of small electronic niggles hampered the team in the days leading up to the race,” notes Oliver. “Nothing that couldn't be fixed but it just cut back on the amount of track time we actually had leading up to the race. Neither Guy (Smith) or I got a lot of laps in the car until the race itself, but the car felt good and our laps times were comparing very favourably to everyone else so we knew that, unless there was something major, we'd be in with a shout.”

Rob Dyson started the race but an early setback in the opening hours due to a wheel imbalance meant there was time and laps to be made up when Olly took his first stint behind the wheel. He did both and was one of the fastest cars on the track. Both Guy and Chris Dyson continued the good work and, by the time Olly got back behind the wheel, the #16 Dyson entry was in 12th place overall.

“Guy had had a puncture which lost him a little time but it all seemed to be going well until I got back in! It turned out to be a long couple of stints for one reason and another, culminating with the engine problem. A little before midnight I came out of Turn 1 and I felt the engine tighten up. It started `missing', I put the clutch in and it seized. Kaput.

“Prior to that, I had got smacked by a Mazda in Turn 2 earlier in the stint - he decided to turn when he shouldn't have. There was rubbing on the left rear and I got a puncture as a result. Two laps after that Scott Pruett (who went on to win the race with Salvador Duran and Juan-Pablo Montoya in the Ganassi Riley) went into me so it was a pretty action-packed couple of hours.

“The Howard Motorsports/Dyson Racing team had worked so hard to get the car race ready and it was a real shame we didn't get the result we were looking for. Rob and Chris are going to be doing a number of Grand-Am races during the season in this car so, from that point of view, it was a really useful learning curve. From mine, I'm just going to have to go back to have another go at getting one of those fantastic Rolex watches!”

Oliver remained in Florida after the Daytona race, training hard, as Corvette Racing's official season-opening test takes place at Sebring from 5-7th February.

More news about how that went, and who will be partnering Oliver and Olivier in the 2007 ALMS season will be coming soon.