Continental Tire IMSA Reflections: Dane Cameron

Throughout the year, Continental Tire will focus on celebrating the fans, media, drivers, and teams and their contributions to sports car racing, including a weekly trip down memory lane in Sportscar365’s Continental Tire IMSA Reflections series.

This week’s reflection comes from Acura Team Penske driver Dane Cameron who looks back at winning the 2014 GT Daytona championship with Turner Motorsports before claiming the 2016 Prototype crown with co-driver Eric Curran at Action Express Racing.

What are you favorite moments from your time racing on Continental Tires?

“I don’t know which one I would weigh more: winning the GTD championship or the Prototype one.

“Maybe the Prototype one a little bit just because I had done some Prototype stuff and then went back to GT, was able to win that, then went back to Prototype and won there.

“I’m really proud of both of those accomplishments and to be diverse with championships in both styles of racing.”

What did it take to win the two championships?

“The first one, I felt very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with a great car. The Z4 really suited me.

“Joining Turner Motorsports, it happened at the last minute after I was already signed to another program and that program collapsed.

“I was scrambling for a ride and I ended up at Turner, which I’m really happy about It turned out to be a great car and I had a great teammate with Markus Palttala for most of the year.

“Everything just fell into place that year and we won a ton of races. Everything seemed to go our way.

“In ’16, it was very gratifying as well because we had a near-miss in ’15 where we came up a little bit short with the wet race at Petit.

“For Eric and I, that was the mission from the word go: we came up short last year but that’s not going to happen again this year.

“They were very different but equally rewarding.”

Are there any individual races that stand out?

“Lime Rock in 2015 was really cool. It was special because I came back to Turner Motorsports. I had moved to Prototype, and it’s hard when you change teams especially after a good year like [2014].

“You’re still friends, you’re still close to everyone, so it was really fun to go back and rejoin all the same guys and drive with Michael [Marsal] for the first time.

“I didn’t have much practice and I hadn’t driven a GT car in quite awhile, but to jump in the thing and get a win there was really cool.

“And to do it on fuel mileage, which is something I hadn’t done before, it was neat to check that box.”