18-year-old Brit finishes second at Daytona 24hrs

When we were 18, we were busy doing doughnuts in supermarket car parks, and tirelessly explaining to all our friends why our 1.3-litre Ford Fiesta was in fact faster than the neighbour’s 1.6 (fact and logic be damned). 

We most certainly were not very nearly winning one of the world’s best-known endurance races – the 24 hours of Daytona. Or, to give it its full and sponsor-friendly name, the Rolex 24.

But that’s exactly what Northumberland-teen Stuart Middleton’s just done. He was one of four drivers of the no. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R, alongside former F1 driver Felipe Nasr, Toyota LMP1 factory driver Mike Conway, and former American IMSA Champion Eric Curran. They finished second overall, a minute and 10 seconds behind the winning Caddy of Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa. 

Middleton, who won the British GT4 Championship on his first attempt, becomes the youngest driver to stand on the podium at the Daytona 24 this century. A certain Mr Alonso finished 38^th, after retiring overnight with mechanical issues.