Daytona, again.

I first came to Daytona when I was 10.
I won. In a Rookie Sportsman kart.

I didn’t know what a GTP car was. Nobody did.
I wanted to drive that track—the big one with the walls and the banking that looks fake until you stand on it.

Last weekend, I finally did.
In a Porsche 963 Hypercar.
At the Roar before the 24. The Rolex 24 is up next.

No pressure.

The Early Days

Back then, Daytona meant the infield kart track. Alarm clocks before sunrise. Tires everywhere. Dad doing math on fuel while I pretended not to be nervous.

Between sessions, I’d stare up at the banking and wonder when I could race up there.

Answer: not anytime soon.

But Daytona was one of those kart tracks where I learned how to race. How to pass. How to lose and want to be faster. How to win without getting too comfortable. I won my first WKA race here, which at the time felt like I’d basically made it.

Spoiler: I had not.

Detours, Delays, and Frequent Flyer Miles

The path from karts to now wasn’t clean.

U.S. junior formulas.
Europe.
Japan.
Different cars, different cultures, different ways to get humbled.
Graduated high school at age 15, moved to England alone to race full time in Europe.
I won the BRDC British F3 Championship in 2020, raced FIA F3 at places kids put on posters, then went to Japan and learned—again—that comfort is overrated.

Nothing was handed to me. Nothing was guaranteed. If there was a long way around, I found it.

Apparently that route leads back to Daytona.

Endurance Racing Is… a Lot

This weekend is my first Rolex 24. Also my first time racing something with 680 horsepower, hybrid systems, and enough buttons to launch a spaceship.

The Porsche 963 is heavier than Formula cars, fast, and extremely honest. You don’t overdrive it. You don’t bully it. You work with it or it reminds you who’s in charge.

I’m sharing the car with Tijmen van der Helm and Nico Pino, which means every lap I run matters to someone else. Endurance racing isn’t about hero laps—it’s about not being that guy at hour 18, and being that other guy at hour 23.

You manage traffic. Tires. Energy. Yourself. Then you do it again. And again. And again.

Sleep is optional. Focus is not.

About the People Making This Happen

JDC-Miller MotorSports is the only privateer team in GTP. Translation: no factory safety net, no excuses, just execution.

They’ve won the big races. They know what they’re doing. And they trusted me with the No. 85 Porsche 963. That’s not something I overlook.

Tijmen knows this car better than most people know their own phone. Nico shows up and immediately goes fast. I’m paying attention.

PilotOne Racing has backed this entire journey from the beginning—long before racing prototypes was even a realistic sentence to say out loud.

What This Weekend Actually Means

This isn’t about “full circle.”
It’s about showing up prepared.
Doing the job.
And earning the next opportunity.

Daytona just happens to be the place where I learned how much I wanted this.

Race recap coming next week.

If you’re watching—thanks.
If you’re new—welcome.
If you’re that seven-year-old kid in the kart suit—yeah, this is pretty cool.

Let’s go racing. 🏁

– Kaylen