ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA

January 25, 2026

George Kurtz

Malthe Jakobsen

Toby Sowery

Alex Quinn

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're with our LMP class winners in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the 04 CrowdStrike Oreca LMP2, 07. From your left to right, George Kurtz, Malthe Jakobsen, Alex Quinn, Toby Sowery.

This is the team's first Rolex 24 victory, its third win in IMSA competition. This is George's first Rolex 24 win, his fourth IMSA victory. His last win was Motul Petit Le Mans in 2023.

Malthe, this is his first 24 win second IMSA victory won the LMP Sebring in 2022.

Alex, this is his first win in both the Rolex 24 and IMSA, and the same for Toby.

George, very, very close a couple of years ago, and now you got one. What does it mean?

GEORGE KURTZ: Well, we finally got the monkey off our back after losing in '23 by, I think, 16/thousandths of a second. It's been something we've been working towards for the last couple years. We've been very close.

I couldn't be prouder of the team and the drivers, all-star lineup here, and the CrowdStrike APR guys gave us a fantastic car. It was great at the end. We had some adversity in the beginning, the first turn, I would say. We were innocent bystanders and got cleaned out a bit.

But the team got us back on track and we never gave up, and really this has been a life-long dream and we finally got it done.

Q. Any of you can answer this, but is it fair to say this class was particularly spirited in this race? There was a lot going on. Any of you want to talk about what that racing was like? There was a lot going on the whole race.

TOBY SOWERY: I feel like I've done the least out of the four of us, but watching George get like he said wiped out at the start and Alex ending with a quad, I think LMP 2 is probably I would argue the toughest class in the IMSA field. Everyone is in the same car so it's been maximizing every element that's possible, and even if things are done as well as they can be on the day by the team, it doesn't always go your way.

For me, it's definitely a spirited grid. But yeah, we've got a great lineup, so we're one of the teams that should be on the beneficiary end of that.

Q. George, just a bit more on this win. If you look at your record, you've basically won everything else: Sebring, Watkins Glen, Le Mans. This was always missing; close a couple times. What it does it mean to get this one to sort of complete the set?

GEORGE KURTZ: Yeah, that's right. It was missing for a while. It was one that was super special. It's really extra special because we've come so close so many times.

That last couple of minutes you're just waiting for something to go wrong or some incident or some yellow that comes out that's going to take it away. To actually see it go through and see it to the finish was really special.

I think next up for us, hopefully, is a win in Sebring. I've got a P3 win but not a P2 win there, so I think that we'll try to add that to the list.

But in general, we're going to enjoy this. And again, what Toby said, this is such a competitive lineup. You're against F1 drivers. You're against some of the top folks in the world in the same car all at the same time. To get this win and come out of Daytona on the top step, I couldn't be more proud.

Q. To what extent was the fog and sort of the caution that followed the great equalizer in this race, because there were some teams who really front-loaded their bronze time and then you get the caution and logic dictates that you put the bronze in the car. What kind of an equalizer was that?

MALTHE JAKOBSEN: Well, so I was the guy in the car when the fog was starting to increase. As I think Laurin was saying from the Porsche crew, you're coming down the back straight turning into the Bus Stop, and all you could see was your braking marks, and you didn't quite know where the curb was going to arrive.

Having that opportunity to obviously -- some of the teams to burn away some of their bronze time was definitely a benefit for them. But George has done an amazing job up until then and kept us on the lead lap and got rid of his drive time already by the time I got in the car for the first time.

But yeah, I think both Toby and I can sign a piece of paper that it was super, super, super boring to be behind the wheel, and actually at some moments even just difficult to keep your eyes open. You needed to have the engineer speaking to you sometimes just to keep you entertained somehow.

Yeah, it was a long night, but every single second of it was worth it.

Q. Toby, you and I were speaking on the grid before the race, and there was obviously the fear of what exactly happened in Turn 1. Talk about that helpless feeling and knowing what you predicted happened, but then to get into Victory Lane after that? I would also like George to comment on that because I'm sure that was very difficult to get into Turn 1 and immediately get cleaned out in a 24-hour race.

TOBY SOWERY: Yeah, I mean, like you said, we were speaking about this before, and it was our worst nightmare. The first thing you want to is survive lap 1. The old corny saying, to finish first, first you have to finish. You know, bronzes, they vary in various skills, and for us George is super good at bringing the car back every time.

He's one of the best on the grid at any time the best at doing that, and I think that's what makes him such a key element of this team. We trust him implicitly with the car, and to see him being taken out lap 1 is quite demoralizing but then you still realize you've got 23 hours and 59 seconds. The whole race essentially. I'd rather it lap 1 than midway through.

But yeah, fortunately we didn't get too much damage, and like George also mentioned earlier, we've got a fantastic team that fixed everything on the car that was wrong within a lap or two.

Yeah, maybe I won't talk about it next time and we'll avoid it. It's how racing goes, and especially 24 hour races. There's things you can't plan and predict. But, yeah, we do what we can in those situations. Like I said, George is the guy on the grid to give the car to to know it's going to calm back in one piece.

GEORGE KURTZ: Just to follow on that, everybody has a job and a role, and the bronze role is bringing the car home and not have issues. You're never going to win a race in Turn 1. Unfortunately, I just didn't put it together in qualifying, and pace-wise it was probably top 3 or 4. We were not in the position that we wanted and got caught up in a bit of a mess. But we put it all back together.

As Toby said, it's all about giving the car back to these young gentlemen in one piece so they can do what they do.

Q. Alex, big responsibility there at the end being in the car for the final stint. Just talk us through the emotions and also what it means to you to be tasked with doing that for the team. As an aside to that, got a lot of momentum in your career at the moment, the news of you signing with Peugeot for a development role. Standup performances here, and you're on such a good trajectory. Tell me about that.

ALEX QUINN: Yeah, it's obviously a good time for my career. Honestly, I'm completely knackered right now and it hasn't set in, especially after that quad stint at the end. But I'm sure tomorrow it will really sink in.

But yeah, it's a good moment for my career and just so thankful to George and obviously glad I could do the job for him and the team at the end.

Yeah, I'm excited for the future for sure, and hopefully this is the start. But it's, of course, a very special day, as well.

Q. George, just want to touch on the APR team. You have such a high ambition when you go racing. Tell me about the relationship you have with APR and Simon Stew and what keeps you racing with them, because they've played a massive part in this success?

GEORGE KURTZ: Yeah, the team has been fantastic. Anybody that knows Stew he's a larger than life personality. He's a big teddy bear. Between him and some they've done a great job with the team. It's run like a family. From everyone on the team to Mark who builds the car to everyone, fuel man, everything in between, it really -- everyone cares, and it shows in the car.

I was happy that we were able to finish the way we did because it was really a testament to the speed of the car and the driving. We didn't have games at the end with yellows and things of that nature that would have maybe scrambled up the order.

I think the way we finished was we had the best car, we had great drivers. And APR, they're the little team that could. We couldn't be prouder of them, and I couldn't be more thankful for what they've done.