Grand-Am - Homestead Preview
The Season Starts Here

In some ways, the Rolex 24 was a continuation of the 2007 season – except that driver partnerships were different (they always are at Daytona), the field was running on Pirellis not Hoosiers and some of the Rileys were fitted with the new bodywork.

A Michael Shank Riley MkXX, with the Ford engine, seemed to be the car to have (Oswaldo Negri, right) – but now, with the two month break almost over, the new cars are appearing, in the form of two Dallaras and two Lolas.

Also appearing is Grand-Am’s new Vice President of Competition, David Spitzer. He will oversee all aspects of the Grand-Am competition department, so that’s all Grand-Am sanctioned series.

Spitzer served most recently as a Product Manager in Cadillac Marketing, where he was charged with developing a new ‘global vehicle architecture for the luxury line’.

“The addition of the Vice President of Competition is another example of the growth of Grand-Am continuing a positive trend,” said Grand-Am President Roger Edmondson. “David Spitzer will head up the competition department to ensure that our on-track product remains the best in motorsports,” says the boisterous Edmondson. All motorsports? All US motorsports?

Back to the actual entry, and adjustments include SAMAX’s lone #2 Riley switching from a Pontiac V8 to a BMW V8 (after a disastrous Rolex 24 engine-wise) - and featuring a new livery, above - the Southard Riley switching to the new bodywork and the Spirit of Daytona Fabcar evolving into a Coyote. Eddie Cheever’s (lone) entry will feature some drastic changes to the front and rear of the Coyote, since Daytona.

The #7 Sigalsport Riley BMW has a new sponsor: Rum Bum.

Regarding the new Dallaras, Kevin Doran’s team was initially expected to enter its first Dallara Ford in the hands of Burt Frisselle and Gabriele Gardel, but they now seem set to race the #47 entry later: the #77 will be raced in Florida by Brad Yaeger and Memo Gidley.

The SunTrust example will also make its debut this weekend, Max Angelleli joined by Michael Valiante.

The Krohn Racing Lolas might have made their debut at the Rolex 24, but team manager Jeff Hazell states that “using the Rileys there was a very good decision, as we came away with fourth and seventh – and could then park them, and concentrate on the Lolas.”

He passed on the fascinating information that the Lola design has enjoyed “nearly 400 wind tunnel runs” and “we have covered nearly 4,000 miles in testing”.

However, he’s not going to assess the competitiveness of the new cars until well after Homestead.

“It’s not an ideal test track: it’s difficult to set up a car for that layout and it also varies from day to day. We need to do Homestead, Mexico City and Virginia before we take stock of our competitiveness with the Lolas.”

Elsewhere on the entry, the 2007 Championship winner has been tested by Cristiano da Matta recently, at the Eagles Canyon track near Dallas. da Matta was delighted to find that the old skills came rushing back, and there is a possibility that he could race a second Gainsco entry, perhaps as soon as the Laguna Seca fixture in May.

The Gainsco team got off to a much better start in 2008 than in 2007, but we’ll have to wait and see if they can resume that blistering 2007 form. Or will the Shank entries take over that Gainsco role this year?

In GT, it’s the Mazda RX-8 that has started the season the strongest, denying Porsche yet another class win at the Rolex 24. Is the tubeframe Ferrari going to be as competitive as the Mazdas? Can Scott Tucker and Ed Zabinski demonstrate its true worth?

TRG and Farnbacher Loles adjust from seven against seven to three against three, as their battle royal in the Porsche class resumes. The title was between these two last year: can the Porsches match the Mazdas in 2008?

The Pontiacs seemed ‘too draggy’ and heavy at Daytona, but are immensely durable, and one of them seemed likely to push Sylvain Tremblay’s Mazda all the way in the Rolex 24 – but didn’t quite.

Porsche, Pontiac or Mazda then – unless a Mustang or the Ferrari can get among them. Homestead may not be absolutely representative of how 2008 could pan out, but it will provide a few more clues.