Helio Castroneves' legacy as one of the greatest race drivers of his generation took a further boost when he led home the Meyer Shank Racing Acura team to victory at the 2022 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona this past weekend.
Castroneves, who won the Indy 500 last year, this weekend shared the AutoNation and Sirius XM backed car with the formidable trio of Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and fellow Indycar ace Simon Pagenaud
Like a fine wine, Brazilian 46-year-old Castroneves gets better with age.
His final stint in a thrilling race end on Sunday was the stuff of folklore. With less than an hour to go, the race all but neutralised when a yellow flag period had the four leading cars on the same lap and nose to tail for a final half-hour sprint.
And indeed it was that! With Castroneves chased hard by Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Minolta Acura. The pair weaved through traffic in hair-raising style, nose-to-tail, less than a second apart for the first hectic ten minutes and when lapping the GT cars.
But Castroneves was masterful, tapping into his unique experience, managing to eke out a gap and win by a mere 3.028 seconds over Taylor with whom he shared the winning car last year.
Elated with his second victory in a row at the Daytona 24 Hours, Castroneves told reporters: “I’m 46 feeling like 22!
“It was absolutely amazing. I can’t thank enough AutoNation and Sirius XM, Meyer Shank Racing and Acura, because these guys gave me a… ‘Keep pushing, keep pushing!’ great car, great teammates with Simon, Tom, Oliver, my brothers!
“At the end, Ricky… Oh man, I was joking with him: Ricky, I taught you a lot of things over three years with Acura but I didn’t teach you all of it: I’ve got to keep something up my sleeve!
"But, incredible job from everyone, I never thought I’d be climbing the fence at Daytona and today I realized that dream man. That was absolutely incredible.
“I’m so happy for the entire group because everyone did their part and in the end, I was saying, ‘Put me in, coach! Put me in, coach!’ It was great.”
When you have passion, and you love what you do, you’ve just got to keep doing it
Castroneves's famous 'spiderman' fence climbing celebration he made famous when he won at the Brickyard in 2001 as a rookie. Since then he has made that historic fence-climb in 2002, 2009 and 2021 when he again celebrated with a swig of milk in the Indianapolis winner's circle.
As for climbing the fence at two of the sport's most iconic venues, Castroneves said: “It’s incredible, incredible."
Regarding his age, Castroneves explained, "Look, when you have passion, and you love what you do, you’ve just got to keep doing it. There is no reason for you to keep listening to noises.
“So as long as I keep it going, I have no issues. I’m motivated, I’m excited, I want to achieve my dream, and keep it going. And today, another one on the bucket list.”
Before then and after that he will be busy all year, alongside a full Indycar season in 2022, he will also be serving as Meyer Shank Racing’s endurance driver for the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Apart from the Indycar schedule, Castroneves' IMSA programme includes the forthcoming Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 19, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 26 and Motul Petit Le Mans on 1 October,
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