Grand-Am, Roar Before The Rolex 24 – Round Up
Part 1 – Daytona Prototypes

Those people expecting to escape the arctic weather that has been gripping much of Europe and the States of late by heading South to Florida were in for a shock last weekend, as they emerged from their slumbers to be greeted by temperatures that hovered disturbingly close to freezing point – not something that usually features on postcards from the Sunshine State. Nevertheless, 40 hardy Rolex teams poured themselves a hot drink and got to work for three days of testing around the extraordinary Daytona International Speedway.

Track action – split into nine separate practice sessions over the three days – began under partly sunny skies on Friday morning, before drizzle set in for the afternoon session; and so it was perhaps not surprising that the fastest Daytona Prototype times were set on that first morning.

Max Angelelli was the man who claimed what was to prove to be the fastest lap of the test; his 1:40.466 – 0.074s faster than last year’s pole time (set in similar conditions) – coming towards the end of the first session in the #10 SunTrust Racing Dallara Ford. "I am very happy with today," said the Italian racer. "All the drivers were very good, we are very happy with the car, and it is driving really well. At the moment we are just running laps. We are all right there. We are looking forward to the race. I feel all we need right now is to wash it and we can go racing."

In fact, the top five DP times were set during Practice 1, with the #02 Chip Ganassi Riley BMW ending the session second after a 1:40.588 from Scott Dixon, and followed by the #6 Michael Shank Racing (MSR) Riley Ford of Michael Valiante on 1:40.963; this latter performance vindicating the team owner’s earlier comments about his two-car, eight-man squad. “We have had a lot of very strong driver line-ups for this event in the past, and I’m as confident in this group that we have this year as I’ve been for any we’ve had before,” said Michael Shank. “Every one of these guys has a lot of Daytona Prototype experience, and a lot of miles at this track. To be successful in the 24, and to even make it to the finish of this race, takes speed, smarts, and a lot of experience. You have to make the right decisions, every minute of the way for 24 hours. With the guys we have in both cars, we have the right mix to make sure we are there at the finish and in position to fight for a podium on Sunday afternoon.” The #60 sister car finished seventh overall on 1:41.766; its fastest time coming during the penultimate practice session.

The switch from Lexus to BMW power doesn’t seem to have made the Chip Ganassi Rileys any less competitive, with the 2007/2008 race-winning #01 coming in four-tenths behind its stablemate after a 1:40.986 from Scott Pruett.

“It was a very successful test for the Telmex/Target Chip Ganassi racing team and having not driven since October, it was fun to get back behind the wheel," said Marino Franchitti – whose brother Dario is in the #02. "Even though we had very un-Florida like weather we made the best of the track time we had to get through our programme and that should stand us in good stead come the race. After working closely with the team and my team mates, it’s easy to see why this team has won so many Rolex 24hrs and hopefully the 01 or 02 car can add to the tally in a couple of weeks.”

Christophe Bouchut, meanwhile, set a fifth-fastest 1:41.121 in the #55 Level 5 Motorsports Riley BMW.

The star-laden sister car, #95, didn’t take part in the first session which meant that it’s fastest of the weekend would not come until Practice 8 on Sunday – a ninth fastest 1:41.933. It’s fair to say, though, that Messers Bourdais, Collard and Maassen will make their presence felt more forcefully during race week.

Saturday morning actually saw sleet and snow on the Speedway, resulting in the cancellation of Practice 3, but the other three scheduled sessions did take place successfully. The very low temperatures meant that very few time-improvements were noted, but it was another good day for the #6 MSR Riley after setting fastest time in two of the three sessions including night-practice; "It was really cold out there," said AJ Allmendinger. "These are conditions you normally don't race in. I've been at Daytona before when it was cold, but this was like ice out there. When the tires were cold it was nuts trying to hang on."

Sunday saw marginally improved temperatures – up into the mid-40s Fahrenheit – but clear blue skies, which allowed several teams to make headway.

Defending Rolex Series Champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Riley Chevrolet (joined again at the 24 by Jimmy Vasser and Jimmie Johnson) finally found some of the pace that had eluded them over the first two days, setting the fastest time of the day – 1:41.319 - and finishing up sixth in the combined times; “That last session we made a pretty big gain,” said Gurney. “We pretty much wildly changed the setup of the car and it was a gain, a big gain.  We still have a lot to learn and we really don’t know how fast everyone else is, but it was very promising this time.  We definitely took a nice step in the right direction.”

“We threw a lot at the car in that last session,” added Fogarty.  “Alex ran the whole thing and did a good job and got the most out of it.  For the conditions, it seems to be good and it gives us a broader sense of the directions we can head off to on race weekend if necessary.  It was great work by the engineers and the entire GAINSCO team all the way around.”

Despite the absence of Ricardo Zonta for the test and less running than they’d hoped – resulting in an 11th fastest 1:42.224 for the #75 Lola Ford – Krohn Racing emerged from the test in a positive frame of mind; “We had two fairly good sessions. The car got better and better and more drivable," said Tracy Krohn. "There’s a little bit of a balance between getting Nic (Jonsson) and Colin (Braun) and myself all on the same page but I think we’re there. I think the car was getting better and gaining grip. Certainly having a warmer session on Sunday was advantageous for everybody but I thought we made a huge amount of gain in the level of grip we were getting just for the weather.

“I don’t know anybody that’s ever seen snow and sleet in Daytona, if that’s an indicator. We just want to strike a happy medium. We assume the weather won’t be the same for the race as it was for testing. The car is in very good position and we feel like we could go racing now.”

Making its first steps at the test was new team Starworks Motorsport – a new team, maybe, but one with some familiar names.

Team Principal is former SAMAX/BAM!/Orbit man Peter Baron, returning to the Rolex Sports Car Series for the first time since 2008; and this is a serious programme, as evidenced by the hiring of Bill Riley as the team’s Race Engineer and former F1/IndyCar mechanic Simon Morley as Team Manager.

"I'm excited to launch Starworks Motorsport," enthused Baron. "This is a fresh organization and a new opportunity to build upon everyone's experience competing in the Rolex Series. We have a proven on-track package, undoubtedly one of the best engineers in the business - courtesy of Bill's involvement, an exceptional team manager and an exciting driver line-up. I'm really looking forward to Daytona and enjoying a solid debut season for the team in GRAND-AM."

"This is a great opportunity to help get Peter to the next level and give Riley Technologies a good platform for development of the car and parts," added Riley. "I've known Peter through Daytona Prototype racing for a few years now and I'm looking forward to working with him. With the upgrades to the car and the driver line-up in place, we should be competitive."

Although due to expand to a two-car operation for the remainder of the season, only the #7 Riley BMW will contest the 24 Hours, with Kasper Andersen, Mike Forest, Bill Lester and South African hotshoe Dion von Moltke behind the wheel. The car ended the test as the slowest of the DPs on 1:42.923, but progress was made throughout the weekend.

It was a similar story for the other new team present for the test, the #9 Action Express Racing Riley Porsche of Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, Ryan Dalziel and Mike Rockenfeller, which finished 12th fastest on 1:42.345. With such talent and speed onboard, however, this car is sure to feature much more prominently in the race.

Barbosa & Borcheller talk about their new team and car (video from December test)

As for the defending champions, Brumos Racing, their sole entry ended eighth fastest overall on 1:41.768. But this is the car that took pole in 2009, while the sister car took the win; so it’s safe to say that if any team knows its way round the Speedway, it’s Brumos.

The #59 contains two of the winning quartet from last year – Darren Law and David Donohue – while the other two – Antonio Garcia and Buddy Rice – will be doing their best to help the #90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote Porsche get to the front at the end of the month. Having Darren Manning and NASCAR star Paul Menard in the car with them probably won’t do any harm either. The Coyote finished in 13th place on 1:42.443.

Doran Racing ended tenth overall on 1:42.189, after Sunoco Fuels Rolex 24 Driver Challenge winner Derek Johnston had gathered more valuable mileage ahead of his race debut in the #77 Dallara Ford.

So after three days of shivering on the Atlantic coast, all the DP teams knew their cars that bit better; but the conditions meant that they probably didn’t gain much insight into the strength of the competition. As ever with this race, though, with such an array of driving talent on hand, it’s unlikely to be dull. As good as last year’s though? Time will tell. 

MH