MSR returned to a two-car effort in 2013 and opened the season as the defending Rolex 24 At Daytona Champions. The team delivered another strong performance in the huge race as the No. Ford-Riley 60 entry of John Pew, Ozz Negri, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Wilson, and Marcos Ambrose set twitter alight with #nevergiveup as the five-driver lineup drove from seven laps down to take the checkered flag in third in the 24-hour endurance classic. The sister No. 6 Ford-Riley of Gustavo Yacaman, Michael Valiante, Chris Cumming and Jorge Goncalvez was also well-paced for a strong finish before contact with a GT machine brought an early end to the team’s race.

The Rolex Series made its debut at the new Formula 1-grade Circuit of the Americas for the second round of the year and the team welcomed a new face as former F1 pilot Antonio Pizzonia joined Yacaman in the No. 6 Ford-Riley. The new driving pair finished seventh in the event while the No. 60 entry of Pew and Negri faced frustration when contact took the group out of contention and the team was forced to watch from the sidelines.

MSR made the team’s 200th Rolex Series start in the third round at Barber Motorsports Park. The organization welcomed back Valiante who shared driving duties with Pew in the No. 60 machine. Full-time MSR pilot Negri was forced to sit out three rounds of competition as he recovered from a leg injury sustained during off-season training.

Both MSR cars showed strong pace in the Barber event but a lack of cautions at a track which traditionally features numerous caution periods kept the team from converting its podium potential. In the end, Yacaman and Pizzonia came home fifth and Pew and Valiante finished eighth.

The fourth round of Rolex Series competition marked another new venue for MSR as GRAND-AM debuted at Road Atlanta. Yacaman and Pizzonia delivered a strong performance in the No. 6 Ford-Riley – running as high as third before taking their best finish to date of fourth. Valiante and Pew combined for a run to seventh.

The Detroit Grand Prix held through the streets of Belle Isle Park did not pan out as MSR had been hoping when the No. 60 Ford-Riley of Pew and Valiante sustained significant race-ending damage on the opening lap when Pew was unable to avoid an incident directly ahead of him through the narrow confines of the street circuit. Yacaman and Pizzonia battled back from a challenging start of the race to finish the two-hour sprint event seventh.

Following the disappointing Detroit round, MSR worked hard to get both cars race-ready for the team’s home race of Mid-Ohio held just two weeks later. The Ohio organization had targeted a big result as the team not only welcomed back Negri to the No. 60 but also new Ohio-based sponsor Roberts Electrical Company. Negri staged a huge comeback in his first race back with the team since the Barber round.

The Roberts Electrical Ford-Riley appeared to be well on its way to a podium finish in front of the home crowd with Negri running third in the closing stages of the race. But while giving chase for second, Negri had to make a dash into pit lane for a splash of fuel with seven minutes to go and took the checkered flag fourth in line. Meanwhile, the No. 6 machine of Yacaman and Pizzonia suffered a devastating fire after an off-track excursion ruptured an oil line. It was uncertain whether MSR’s No. 6 car would be able to compete in the 6 Hours of the Glen just two weeks later, but the MSR group worked valiantly to rebuild the machine and rallied back at the Glen as the team was once again joined by Justin Wilson who teamed with Yacaman in the six-hour event.

MSR also welcomed Dunn Tire as a new sponsor of the No. 60 Ford-Riley at the Glen and the team almost claimed victory in the prestigious race as Negri ran second and challenged for the lead in the closing laps. Unfortunately, a momentary spin by the lead car forced Negri into the grass to avoid contact which saw the No. 60 forced to make an extra pit stop to clear grass from the radiator.

The moment cut short a storybook day and saw MSR come home with its sixth fourth place finish in the Glen 6 Hour event. Wilson and Yacaman held strong through six hours of hard racing in a mix of wet and dry conditions to take sixth at the finish.

Next on the schedule was the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and MSR was hoping to kiss the famed IMS bricks as Allmendinger returned to the team and joined Yacaman for the three-hour endurance race. The weekend started out strongly, as Yacaman delivered his best qualifying effort of the year and started third on the grid.

The MSR crew performed quick pit stops and raced within the top-five for most of the event, but the results did not pan out for either entry with the No. 60 finishing seventh and the No. 6 finishing 10th.

Historic Road America marked Round 9 of the championship and MSR looked to once again step up to the podium at the legendary Wisconsin road course after having placed third at the track in 2012. But despite a strong effort, the team didn’t find the edge needed to score a big result with the No. 60 and No. 6 taking fifth and sixth, respectively.

Kansas Speedway was the third of three new tracks added to the 2013 schedule and the race through darkness under the lights brought some competitive racing. Yacaman scored his best qualifying position of the year with a second place starting spot and the young Colombian driver led for 44 laps before turning the car over to co-driver Justin Wilson, who had joined the team for the final four rounds of competition. Unfortunately, the podium-promising run was cut short after multiple incidents with competitors caused enough damage to the No. 6 machine that the car was unable to finish.

Meanwhile, the No. 60 Ford-Riley of Pew and Negri came back to take the team’s second podium of the year with a third place finish. The result was all the more remarkable for MSR as the car had sustained substantial damage in practice the day before.

MSR brought home a double top-10 finish at Laguna Seca with the No. 60 entry sporting a new “retro” look as team partner AERO provided a sleek orange design for the final two rounds.

The season-finale event was held at Lime Rock Park and as the GRAND-AM Series came to a close, MSR used the final round as an opportunity to thank the team’s many loyal fans by displaying over 200 fan names on the No. 60. Pew and Negri drove the “MSR Fan Car” to a sixth place finish as the team celebrated nine consecutive years of GRAND-AM competition. Yacaman and Wilson, who both took their first-ever laps at Lime Rock Park during the weekend, combined for a run to second place and delivered MSR’s third podium of the year – closing out the season in the same way that the team opened it by securing a spot on the podium.

Although the 2013 season was over, MSR was not yet done for the year as the organization still had one more goal to accomplish. Together with Ford, Continental Tire, and driver Colin Braun, MSR set a new record with the team’s Ford-powered Ecoboost Riley. The combination set the fastest lap ever recorded on the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway oval with a speed of 222.971 mph. Braun also set new world speed records for 10 kilometers from a standing start and 10 miles from a standing start. Braun’s 10-kilometer speed was 202.438 mph and the 10-mile speed was 210.018 mph.

As the GRAND-AM chapter closes and the new United SportsCar Championship chapter opens, Michael Shank Racing looks forward to announcing the team’s plans for the future in the coming weeks.

Jordan and Max have been kind enough to answer some questions for Endurance-Info. This interview had been done before the announcement of Jordan and Ricky’s partnership next year.

Jordan, you have been runner-up in the GT standings of the Rolex Series, and now you are the DP champion, the youngest champion ever in the Series? What are your feelings about this title?

 “After finishing second in the GT championship, I knew how bad it felt to go through an entire championship and come up just short of winning. So now, having won the DP championship, I am incredibly happy. It is a sense of accomplishment, but also a bit of a relief to get a major championship.”

Max, what are your feelings about this second title? Was it more difficult than the first one?

“A championship win is always a result of teamwork. This year, more than any other year in the past, we have seen and experienced what that really means. In 2005, the series was very different. Team preparation was important but not predominant. In those years since 2005, things changed. They went very extreme and team members now are equally important to the drivers. Pit stops and race strategy can make a driver look great or horrible, depending on what kind of track position the team is able to gain or lose for him.”

Max, you have already been DP Champion in 2005 with Wayne  Taylor, you have been racing with Ricky, Wayne’s older son and you have now claimed a second title, with Jordan, Wayne’s younger son. So, what can you say of the Taylor family?

 “Being with the family since 1999, I guess I can say a lot of things but there is one thing that stands above everything I can say, and that is honesty. In the racing world, this word is rare and precious. I’ve been asked so many times, who is the faster, the nicer, the easiest to work with, etc. People are interested in comparisons and picking one on top of the other. We are all different and we are all unique. We all have different skills. The kids, Wayne, they all are winners. They all meet in the center of a very special circle and that is the winner circle. They only used different ways to meet there.”

Jordan, may you speak of your teammate Max Angelelli, in a few words ?

“I have known Max for almost my entire life. I grew up with him around my family, so he is basically like another brother to me. He has been a major part of my growth in racing, having basically mentored me through my career and teaching me all the little nuances of our sport. Not only on the track, but off the track, as well.”

What do you like best in him? What do you like less?

“Most people just see the Max that is in the car. The side that I get to see is the best side, the fun, playful personality. He likes to joke around and have fun, but then at the same time he can switch over and become very serious when he needs to. That is my favorite part about it. I do not care for his choice in clothing … it must be an Italian thing!”

What is Max’s main quality? His main defect, if any?

“Max is very experienced in this form of racing, and that experience came into play a lot this year. His understanding of the technical side of the sport is a huge help, not only for himself, but he can help the team as well when we are having issues. Combining that with his will to win in the car, that is why we had so much success this year.”

Max, what can you say about Jordan Taylor, in a few words

“Commitment, desire to excel without losing the freshness of his young age. Quick, competitive and humble.”

What do you like best in him? What do you like less?

“He is funny and makes fun of people. He has no sense of humor when people make fun of him.”

Jordan, what are your favourite tracks? Those that you don’t like too much?

“My favorite tracks are the ones that have the history, tracks like Daytona, Le Mans, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Sebring. When you go to these tracks, you feel the history, and they still have old style layouts with very nice, high-speed sections, but also very technical. There are a few tracks that I don’t enjoy driving, tracks that weren’t necessarily designed for racing, but more to fit into the new ‘mold’ for racetracks.”

Max, what are your favourite tracks? Those that you don’t like too much?

“I like fast, long tracks with fourth- and fifth-gear corners. Macau, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca. I can’t stand racetracks where you only have first-gear corners and it is impossible to make passes. Because of my lack of patience, sometimes, I have the tendency to crash on those tracks unless I’m leading the race.”

Jordan, what are your expectations for next year in the TUDOR USCC?

“I think the new series is very exciting. It is definitely something that should bring a lot of attention to sports car racing in America, but I think it may take a few years to get it all sorted into the proper series that it can be.”

Max, what are your expectations for next year in the TUDOR USCC?

“To have a fair, well-balanced competition within all different types of prototype cars. I’m expecting USCC to act fairly and react quickly.”

Jordan, has it been quite special to race against your brother Ricky?

“We didn’t know what to expect going into the year because we had never raced against each other before. It was actually a lot of fun. I had some of my best battles of my entire career with him this year. I was happy with the way we raced with each other this year. It was a lot of fun.”

Jordan, you have been racing at Le Mans the last two seasons. What can you say about this event? About the Corvette?

“Le Mans was the event that I wanted to do growing up. It was the race that meant the most to my dad, and I think that is why it intrigued me so much. The history of the event and the track are so special, and to go there with an American car like the Corvette was just perfect. We haven’t had the results that we wanted, but it is a very unique event where everything needs to be right.”

Max, you have raced four times at Le Mans. Would you like to come back to Le Mans?

“Oh yes, of course, anytime!!!! I guess 26 or 27 wins in GRAND-AM wins in my career are not enough to find a seat for me at Le Mans!”

 We do thank you very Mucj Max and Jordan and we wish them the best for next year.

Having had an impact since first debuting at Daytona International Speedway with a pole position in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in 2004, Riley Technologies stamped its authority on the era by securing the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Manufacturer Championship. The Championship is the 10th consecutive GRAND-AM title for the Mooresville, North Carolina-based organization that is steered by Bob and Bill Riley.

The Daytona Prototype era witnessed highly competitive racing through the three different generations of specifications, with Riley Technologies’ success remaining a common denominator through all of them. Building on an excellent design with unparalleled customer support, paired with the hard work of Riley customer teams, Riley Technologies generated 92 victories since 2004. 

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates secured the Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Team Championship, which marks the seventh GRAND-AM championship for the team, all of which have been earned with Riley Technologies designs. 

The 2013 GRAND-AM season also saw Riley Technologies customers find success in the Rolex Series GT Class as well as in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series.

Utilizing the Riley Technologies Camaro design that debuted in 2010, Stevenson Motorsports scored six Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge podiums, with wins at Road Atlanta and Kansas Speedway. The Turner Motorsport BMW M3 took victories at Circuit of the Americas, Mid-Ohio and Road America utilizing the Riley Technologies GT Class chassis platform.

“We could not be prouder of the success of our customers, and to have their success result in one Manufacturer Championship for Riley, let alone 10 consecutive seasons, is truly remarkable,” said Riley Technologies VP Bill Riley. “Of course we are very motivated to continue to provide our customers with the tools they need to succeed, and with the TUDOR United SportsCar Series era starting at Daytona in January, we cannot wait to get started on the future. Thank you to our customers, drivers, and teams, as well as to everyone at GRAND-AM.”

2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Series Victories by Riley Technologies Customer Teams:


Rolex 24 At Daytona: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates    

COTA: GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing
Road Atlanta:Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates   
Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Starworks with Alex Popow
Road America:Starworks Motorsport

Rolex GT Class Victories:

COTA, Mid-Ohio et Road America : Turner The firm has 92 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race victories to its credit.

Source : Riley Technologies

The new 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine will make its competition debut at the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona which will be held January 25-26 and will run the entire 12-race season, powering a new-look Daytona Prototype car, created with Ford corporate design influence. Looking to get the new program off to a flying start, Michael Shank Racing will head to Daytona with the record books in mind as the new engine will debut at Daytona International Speedway on October 9.

Together with partners Ford Racing and Continental Tire, the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona-winning team will look to set a new track record at the historic speedway by surpassing the previous record of 210.364 mph. That record was set on February 9, 1987 by NASCAR Champion Bill Elliott who drove a Ford Thunderbird in qualifying for the Daytona 500.

“It’s really a privilege to have an opportunity to put your name in the record books like this,” said team owner Mike Shank. “It is almost inconceivable that this record has stood for such a long time, so it’s pretty special to be involved. We worked a long time to develop our relationship with Ford to be in a position to take on projects like this. Anytime you can get in the record books, it is a great opportunity and just builds on what this company has done.”

Colin Braun, who currently competes in the American Le Mans Series for CORE Autosport, will pilot the EcoBoost-powered Daytona Prototype for the speed record attempt. He drove for Michael Shank Racing in the 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona alongside co-drivers Ozz Negri, Mark Patterson, and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

“This engine is the future,” says Doug Yates, CEO, Roush Yates Racing Engines. “This Ford EcoBoost engine includes all the newest technologies – direct injection, turbocharging and high efficiency. We’re looking at taking it to the next level through this sports car racing program.”

A new Ford-inspired Riley Technologies Daytona Prototype car will accompany the 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost in Daytona. The car’s body features enhanced Ford production vehicle design cues created by lead Ford production designer Garen Nicoghosian with aerodynamic support from Ford Racing chief aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus.

Michael Shank Racing will take to the Daytona International Speedway track on Wednesday, October 9 beginning at 8:00 AM ET as the team starts to build speed for the record attempt.

8Star Motorsports shined quickly within the series and in the paddock to be a contender in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship season for 2014. Since everything was brand-new to develop and monitor the crew, drivers and cars had reasonable expectations for its debut season.

This year was a learning curve for all involved to measure the capabilities of the drivers and team. The 8Star team is gelled in camaraderie with a spirit of international competition. A clearly defined presence of team branding and opportunities within Venezuela as well as a lineup of star drivers within 11 short weeks last winter 8Star soared to build their team in the Championship office in Pompano Beach, Fla.

Driving his passion for racing, Enzo Potolicchio, driver and team principal, announced his dream to launch the new 8Star brand an international team with presence in two additional racing series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the the American Le Mans Series. Potolicchio developed the team for eyes on the bright orange Chevrolet Corvette DP’s as 8Star grooved their own track in 2013 to be a part of #TheFuture.

2013 8Star Motorsports season drivers in the Venezuela, Motorola Mobility, Duncan, ONA, BM Chevrolet Corvette Nos. 3 and 4 cars were Stephane Sarrazin, Michael Valiante, Sebastien Bourdais, Emilio DiGuida & Enzo Potolicchio.

During Friday’s practice at the final round for the Rolex Series at the 1.5 mile, 7-turn road circuit notoriously known for its challenging passing zones and short track, the team finished P1 and P2 in the second and final session of the day.

“We had a good day for 8Star,” Sarrazin said. “The team has done a great job in setup and to find the best balance. We will go for a good position. The track is very narrow for the grip with traffic on a short track.”

On race day the team energy was very high in the morning as the fog lifted from the nostalgic hills surrounding Lime Rock Park, the qualifying session resulted in two black flags and a broken crazy session for passing after the restarts and 8Star finished qualifying in P9 for car No. 3 and P12 for car No. 4.

Fans came out in full fold for the autograph session in the fan zone and the pit walk and the temperatures began to warm in the mid-70′s for a beautiful fall Connecticut day for racing with 33 cars on the overall track and 14 DP’s. The two-hour and 45-minute race resulted the No. 4 car finishing 5th and the a 10th place result for the No. 3 car. The No.3 car ended the season 7th in the DP points standings with a total of 281 points.

Enzo Potolicchio: “Traffic at Lime Rock was really crazy, very hard to pass. You had to be very aggressive. My favorite corner was in turn one, I was good on the brakes. I was tapped and everyone spun in front of me; there was dust everywhere. I had to choose the line, is it here or there and just found it and kept going and was fine.”

Michael Valiante: “We made good progress for next year. Unfortunately Lime Rock was a tough race. We are developing a new gearbox. We had the pace to be on the podium and just lost too much time in the two pit stops. Once things are sorted out with the car, we will back on the podium like Watkins Glen.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “We knew it was a two-stopper from the get-go. The car was fast and we were as fast as anyone else. When you start from the back you have to just pass a lot of cars. Traffic was bad. Lime Rock is a very short racetrack; it is not easy. I kept telling myself, ‘Stay calm, and be patient, don’t hit anyone, and don’t get hit and we will just see what the end result will be.’”

Gary Neal team manager explained: “For the No. 3 car, it was a pretty tough ending for the season. The race at Lime Rock did not go as planned. We had some issues in the pits with the new gearbox and this cost us some extra time. We had a slow pit stop and we missed the red at the end of pit lane and received a drive-through because we blasted through the red flag. We know what we need to fix for next year.”

8Star Motorsports’ inaugural season came without any baseline data, making the challenge that more difficult. The team is making steady progress as the results are fielding interest within the paddock. 8Star has made its mark as a professional International racing team in 2013 8Star thanks it’s partners in racing Venezuela, Motorola Mobility, Duncan, ONA, BM, its drivers, crew and fans for their dedication and support of our debut season.

For starters, it was Angelelli’s second Rolex Series title to go with the 2005 driver and team championships he co-drove to with three-time sports car racing champion and team owner Wayne Taylor in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing entry. It was Angelelli’s 26^th career Rolex Series win, which will go down as the third-most all-time behind a series-leading 41 victories by five-time Rolex Series champion Scott Pruett and 27 by Pruett’s No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley teammate Memo Rojas. Pruett and Rojas’ three-year reign as driver champions came to an end today.

It was Angelelli’s fourth consecutive victory at Lime Rock, which set a Rolex Series record for most consecutive wins at a single venue, surpassing the three straight Rolex 24 At Daytona victories by the No. 01 Ganassi team. Angelelli and Jordan Taylor’s older brother Ricky Taylor co-drove the No. 10 SunTrust Racing entry for WTR to victories at Lime Rock in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Finally, it was the third consecutive victory and fifth overall this season for Angelelli and Jordan Taylor, equaling the team high of five victories scored by Angelelli and Wayne Taylor during their 2005 championship season, which also featured a remarkable 10 podium finishes in 14 races, and the completion of all 2,056 possible race laps on the season for a Rolex Series record that will stand forever. Beginning in 2014, the Rolex Series and American Le Mans Series will operate as a combined entity to be known as the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.

“It’s special, I mean, it’s a lot because I did it with Wayne when he was a lot younger and now I’m doing it with his younger kid,” said Angelelli.  “So I’m very proud of him, Jordan and Ricky. It’s been an amazing journey for me and the Taylor family, and Shelley (Wayne Taylor’s wife), obviously. There is always a great woman behind the scenes. It’s been great to finally clinch the championship. Wayne and I are going to be relaxed, I hope, for the next 24 hours and then will be looking forward to a new challenge and more races to win.”

For the third consecutive race, Angelelli played the role of qualifying driver and race starter before handing the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette to his young co-driver for the final sprint to the finish. And, as was the case in their dominating victories at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City last month, and at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca earlier this month, the duo proved worthy of the championship it clinched today thanks to the kind of solid strategy calls and exemplary work by the crew on pit stops that it benefitted from all season.

Angelelli qualified fifth and played it relatively safe during his opening, almost hour-long stint during today’s two-hour, 45-minute race, gradually creeping toward the front and finally taking the lead six laps before pitting under green to hand the No. 10 Corvette DP over to Taylor on lap 62, 59 minutes into the race.

Taylor resumed in the top-five and, like Angelelli, bided his time while gradually making his way back toward the front. He inherited the lead for the first time when Gustavo Yacaman in the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley pitted from first place on lap 105, one hour and 39 minutes into the race. Taylor never relinquished the lead from that point on, including through a round of pit stops under caution on lap 118 with 56 minutes left in the race.

“Before I got in the car, Max was saying how good the car was,” said Taylor, who led the final 69 laps to the checkered flag and was never threatened. “We knew we had a decent car, but we didn’t know how good it was because it’s obviously hard to pass here. Max didn’t take any risks, which was for the good of the championship. When I got in, we just had a clear track and we were saving fuel for the whole middle stint. When it went to that restart (on lap 122 with 47 minutes remaining), that was the only time we really had an idea of how competitive we would be compared to everyone else. I really didn’t know how fast we were going to be, but when we went green and we could gap them pretty easily, I was pretty happy to see that. I thought Gustavo (Yacaman) was going to do a good job holding off Pruett and everyone, so I was happy he was the one between us. He’s pretty hard to get by. We were able to gap them and kind of maintain it, so I was pretty happy out there.”

Taylor crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of the runner-up Yacaman while Pruett was another .2 of a second back of Yacaman in third. The victory gave Angelelli and Taylor a margin of 13 points over Pruett and Rojas in the final driver standings. The No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP of two-time Rolex Series champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty wound up third in the final standings, 27 points out of the lead, after their 12^th-place finish today brought on by a late-race accident.

“I’ve been coming to watch my dad all these years and GRAND-AM was really the place that I kind of grew up and started to understand racing and understand that I wanted to be in the sport,” Taylor said. “First of all, to win the final GRAND-AM season is pretty crazy just because it’s kind of where I grew up and watched Max and my dad over the years and kind of grew up as a driver and made a career out of it. It’s very special, and after the past few races, it’s obviously come down to the team. Every single time we have won a race, they have put us out in front. All Max or I had to do was keep everyone behind us and, when you have track position, it’s a lot easier. I think we have passed like two or three cars all year on track and everything else has been done in the pits. It’s definitely a team championship. It’s unfortunate that the team didn’t win the team championship, but the driver’s did, so we can’t really complain too much.”

The No. 01 Ganassi BMW claimed the team championship by a six-point margin over the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP. The Ganassi car scored 15^th-place points in the team championship when its day was ended on the very first lap of the June street course race in downtown Detroit, which Angelelli and Taylor won for their second of five victories this year. But Pruett and Rojas scored zero points at Detroit as they did not drive the minimum 30 minutes required to score driver championship points.

“I think everyone was very hopeful in the middle of the year,” Taylor continued. “Going into Watkins Glen (in June), I think we had a lead and then the car was great during the race, but we had an unfortunate break, but we still left there within, I think, two points of the lead. We still knew there was a shot. We went to Indy and then Road America and had two consecutive bad races. I think from then on, we kind of thought we were basically out of the championship. Then, that is when we kind of made a few changes and we were going to start going for race wins. Fortunately for us, everyone else had their own issues. Starworks had a couple of bad races, Gainsco and Ganassi, too, so we were just kind of doing what we were trying to do and that’s win races and the other guys kind of lost their championships. I think everyone had their issues throughout the year. We just kind of maximized those races that we didn’t have problems.”

“If you have watched the races this year, the competitiveness is at an all-time high,” team owner Wayne Taylor said. “I don’t know any other series where there is not even a second that separates 15 cars. When you have that situation, it’s impossible to pass on the track. So, everything has to get done in the pits. We had to put our drivers in the best position. The first three wins we had here (at Lime Rock) was Max and Ricky and, obviously, we know that the car worked really well here and track position was everything, yet again, and we were able to do that. “Well, you know I’m sure everybody knows this, but the relationship between Max and I goes back to 1998. I don’t know how many driver pairings that have existed for the length of time that Max and I have. It was great, he and I winning the 2005 championship, as well as my second Daytona win. Obviously, he’s been so supportive of both Ricky and Jordan and nurtured them and brought them up as well as we could. Both of these guys did unbelievable jobs, but there are so many people behind the scenes. The team has just been superb.  Then, at the end of the day, none of this can happen if somebody doesn’t pay for it. I have to say a special thanks to Brian Stockman, Enda McShane and Paul Blakely (Velocity Worldwide owner partners). Paul and I met and instantly we thought there was a way to work together. Toshiba has been with us since 1997. And I couldn’t be happier about having General Motors, Chevrolet on board for so long. Imagine having my teammate win the championship with me and then he wins the championship with my youngest son. I couldn’t have written a script any better.”

Angelelli and Jordan Taylor will be honored Monday evening as 2013 Rolex Series driver champions at the Rolex Series Awards Banquet at Gotham Hall in New York City.

Source : Wayne Taylor Racing

Scuderia Corsa team principal Giacomo Mattioli on his team’s championship victory in it’s first full season of racing said, “what a fantastic season!  It’s been an unbelievable adventure that started last year.  All the pieces came together today.  The team did an amazing job as they did all season.  Alessandro drove a superb race.  I’m not sure how many drivers can say they came into Grand-Am as rookies and won the championship.  I just want to take a moment to thank everybody involved in this program. Starting with Roberto Amorosi, Scuderia Corsa technical director, without whom this would not have been possible. Also the support of Marco Mattiacci of Ferrari North America which has been crucial in starting this program and obviously Alessandro Balzan who has been with Scuderia Corsa since the beginning.  We believed in him and he believed in us. He has driven his heart out. Now we are looking forward to celebrating this victory and from Monday on we will start work on preparing for next season.” 

Technical Director Roberto Amorosi added, “I am extremely happy.  We went through a very difficult weekend.  A lot was going on during the race, but I’m so proud of the team to win the championship, it’s amazing.  Only 14 months ago we talked about forming a team.  Thank you to Giacomo because we put together the idea but he invested a lot and I think it was worth all the effort. Thank you to the team and Alessandro. It hasn’t sunk in yet that we won.  We look forward to the next year.  This is just the beginning.”

Alessandro Balzan, draped in a Ferrari banner added, “for me to be here in the first year with Scuderia and to get the championship is incredible.  I think we are going to spend one fantastic holiday next week.  The guys on the team deserve it a lot. I want to thank my driving partner Leh Keen who helped me a lot and also our sponsors Motorola, Wide World Ferrari and Ferrari Beverly Hills/Silicon Valley who supported us.  Giacomo Mattioli who gave me the opportunity and Roberto Amorosi our technical director who brought me from Italy for our first race. Today’s race was really wild especially the last 40 minutes, but I am the champion, Ferrari is the champion.  We cannot ask for more.”

The 2013 season began with a fourth place finish at the 24 Hours At Daytona where the newly formed Scuderia Corsa team led through much of the night showing racing fans and fellow teams that they were a force to be reckoned with.  It didn’t take long for Scuderia Corsa, with the young Italian Alessandro Balzan behind the wheel, to live up to that promise.  A string of dominant performances followed immediately, putting Scuderia Corsa and Balzan in the top spot for championship points.  Over the course of the Grand-AM season’s twelve races, the #63 Ferrari earned six podium finishes and nine top-five finishes.

Today’s final race of the season at Lime Rock Park unfolded with major drama in the first few laps when a slippery track and cold tires took out several GT cars and littered the track with debris.  Scuderia Corsa co-driver Leh Keen, a two-time Rolex GT champion, put the #63 in 2nd position on the grid in early morning qualifying and then led the GT pack during the race before handing the well performing Ferrari 458 to Alessandro Balzan on lap 66.  Balzan never looked back and stayed in the top three throughout the second half of the race despite being bumped off the track mid-way through his stint.  As he has done all year, Balzan showed his consistency, running fast laps and keeping the #63 Ferrari 458 Italia up front and out of trouble.

Co-driver Leh Keen said, “I really have to thank Scuderia Corsa for brining me on board to help. I was a very small piece to getting this championship. Not Balzan small, but super small!” said the ever-modest two-time Rolex champion. “It just goes to show what kind of team they are that in their first full season they win the championship. Giacomo and Roberto brought on me onboard and built this team.  They put Balzan in the driver’s seat and he’s done an incredible job all year.  And it’s an honor to have them put me in the driver’s seat with Balzan to help him win the championship. I’m just really happy that it all worked out and it just goes to show how good and how hard the team is working because championships are unbelievably difficult to win.  It came down to last race, in the last hours and I’m just really happy for the team and Balzan.”

The team’s #64 Ferrari sponsored by Ultratech and Ferrari Silicon Valley opened with Scuderia Corsa veteran Jeff Westphal behind the wheel who worked his way to the lead before handing off to fellow San Francisco native Johannes Van Overbeek.  The #64 led mid-race and maintained its presence at the top of the pack throughout the race.  Ferrari fans rejoiced when the #63 and #64 crossed the finish line on second and third position. 

 Westphal said, “Overall I’m elated for Scuderia Corsa.  Happy I could be a part of the 63 and 64′s success at different times in the championship. Johannes [Van Overbeek] and I worked the on car all week and the car was really fast.  So happy to be part of the championship for Ferrari and Scuderia Corsa.” 

Co-driver Johannes Van Overbeek who earned a podium finish last season at Lime Rock in the #63 car with Balzan and helped Ferrari secure the 2012 manufacturers title added, “my second year with Scuderia Corsa at Lime Rock and another championship: happy to have played a role in it. Hats off to Jeff who drove a great race.  The #64 was really good today. I couldn’t be happier for team owners Giacomo and Art.  What a great result for a very tough season.”

Source : Scuderia Corsa

Archie’s 2013 season was curtailed when a fire destroyed the car he was driving in the International GT Open Championship. He also competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours with G Drive Racing by Delta-ADR team in an Oreca 03 Nissan.

Archie Hamilton: “I’m very excited about racing with Multimatic at Lime Rock. It was a real shame that the GT Open programme came to a halt after the fire but rather than take any drive available mid-season I have focused my efforts on 2014. Things are shaping up for that but then I was asked to stand-in at Multimatic. They kindly asked me to test in January and we got on well so I was very pleased to be asked back. Hopefully I can get to grips with the track quickly and we can get a good result.”

“I would like to thank our sponsor Ultratech. We are very lucky to have such an important supporter that is also a big player in the Silicon Valley community. We are very proud of the close ties that Ferrari Silicon Valley has developed over the last 8 years with the high tech community. Johannes and Jeff, both being locals, are the perfect duo to complete a true Silicon Valley car!” said team owner Giacomo Mattioli.

Jeff Westphal, who along with Van Overbeek lives in the San Francisco area, added “I am excited for the finale at Lime Rock. It’s an honor to be racing the #64 and representing two important Northern California companies such as Ultratech and Ferrari Silicon Valley in the Rolex series for Scuderia Corsa. The Ferrari should be good package around the small bullring that is Lime Rock Park.” Westphal, a team driver, drove five races this season with Alessandro Balzan in the #63, earning three podium finishes.

Johannes Van Overbeek, who has spent the 2013 racing season in Grand-AM’s future partner ALMS said, “I’ve had a long and happy relationship with Giacomo and Art. Seeing Scuderia Corsa grow and mature into a championship caliber team brings lots of satisfaction. Last year at Lime Rock Alessandro and I had a good race that contributed to Ferrari winning the constructors championship. This year I’m pleased to be driving with Jeff in the #64 sponsored by Ultratech. I can’t wait for Lime Rock!”

The #63 car, piloted by two-time Rolex GT champion Leh Keen and Grand-AM’s breakout star of the season Alessandro Balzan will be looking to take the 2013 championship. Balzan, who has led the driver championship points through much of this season is currently in 2nd place and looking to take the championship for both the team and driver titles. Scuderia Corsa, which is currently 2nd in the team points, has earned eight top-five finishes in 11 races which has helped Ferrari maintain a season long lead in the manufacturer title.

With both regular 8 car drivers Brendon Hartley and Scott Mayer having previous commitments this weekend, the Fort Lauderdale squad has once again recruited Pierre, who has competed with the team twice before this year, including taking a podium at the Six Hours of The Glen, and invited Mike to make his Daytona Prototypes debut for the season finale race on Saturday.

Mike is a regular American Le Mans Series GTC driver with JDX Racing. He has also made a number of Rolex Series GT starts with Extreme Speed Motorsports this year.

The #2 Starworks driven by Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel is sitting in sixth position in the Rolex Series Drivers’ Championship with 284 points – just 20 points from the top of the leader board (and fifth in the Team Championship).

Mike Hedlund, #8 Starworks:  “I’m really excited to get my first start in a Daytona Prototype at the season finale at Lime Rock Park. Coming off a 2nd place finish in the ALMS GTC class here back in July, I’m looking forward to returning and running strong. With a compressed race schedule I won’t have much time to get up to speed, so having the experience of Starworks and Pierre Kaffer helping me along will be invaluable. Having watched the DP guys battle from the seat of a Rolex GT car this year, it’ll be a lot of fun to mix it up with them! There’s no way I could miss the last GRAND-AM race and I’d like to thank Peter and Scott Mayer for the chance to run the car – hopefully we can finish out the season with a good result for them!”

Peter Baron, Team Owner, Starworks Motorsport: “We are always excited when we bring new people to DP racing. It was real unfortunate when we the 2013 schedule came out as Scott Mayer had a conflict he could not get moved. It’s a shame he has to miss the finale after making steady progress all season and will miss out on the last one. But this created the opportunity to get Mike in the car. Mike tested with us in May and when the opportunity to put in a new driver came up, Mike was our first call. He did a tremendous job getting up to speed in the car and we look forward to a great from him at Lime Rock.

“Pierre Kaffer will be subbing in for Brendon Hartley this weekend after Brendon’s P2 ELMS efforts find him fighting for a top 3 season finish at their last race in Europe this same weekend. When I saw a call from his ELMS team boss show up on my phone last week, I knew they wanted him bad for the last race. Seeing that the 8 car is out of the championship hunt, the right thing to do was let Brendon fight in Europe this week. But we are excited to have Pierre back! He is fresh off a WEC race from COTA and is now leading the WEC P2 championship. The 8 car has been a threat to win all season long, and with the addition of Mike and Pierre I see this threat continuing.”

The final 2013 GRAND AM Rolex Series weekend is at Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT on September 26-28, 2013 with the race broadcast LIVE on 9/28, 1:30 PM ET on FOX Sports 2.

The Vantage GT, this weekend run by Aston Martin Racing partner team TRG-AMR, is based on the hugely successful Vantage GT3 but designed and built to Grand-Am regulations making it suitable for next year’s inaugural United Sports Car Racing championship season.

Turner, who was sent over to the team to help develop the car comments: “We started from tenth and finished in tenth, which for a car’s debut race is great result. We used this race as a test session; we needed to gather loads of data so that we can carry on improving it. Throughout the race the pace was getting better and the guys did a great job to help it develop lap-after-lap, as well as nailing every pit stop.

“Grand-Am is incredibly competitive and the teams here have been doing it for many years. We’d never expect to walk in with a new car and be competitive straight away but to finish, and to make such great progress, points to a positive future for the Vantage GT.”

Over in the Grand-Am support race, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Multimatic Motorsports had an exciting race with its three Vantage GT4s and, heading towards the final lap under the safety car were in third and sixth. However, as the green flag waved an all-out one lap sprint to the line ensued, and with Maxwell desperate to clinch the first win for the team, a big spin and contact occurred, with both cars losing out, eventually being classified 10th and 11th in the GS class.

Meanwhile, back in Europe, in a hectic weekend for Aston Martin Racing and its partner teams, V12 Vantage GT3s were in action across the continent.

Aston Martin Racing partner team Beechdean AMR took fourth in the overseas round of the British GT Championship at Zandvoort, Holland; a result good enough to secure Andrew Howard (GB) and Jonny Adam’s (GB) position of championship leaders heading into the final round.

Over at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, GPR Racing dominated in the Belgian GT Championship, taking the first and second place spots on the podium in the GT3 and first place in the GT4 category. In the International GT Open, the team also had success finishing in second place with its Vantage GT3.

In the Barcelona 24 Hours, Aston Martin works drivers Stefan Mücke (DE) and Bruno Senna (BR) joined Barwell Motorsports drivers Mark Poole (GB) and Richard Abra (GB) in their Vantage GT3. Mücke put the car on pole for the start of the race and set the fastest lap before, in the early hours of the morning, a backmarker sent the German spinning into the wall ending the race for the team. Mücke was taken to hospital but suffered no major injuries.

Source : Aston Martin Racing

Ten races over a variety of different and challenging course layouts have produced one of the the closest championship battles in the history of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.

Appropriately, racing on two of North America’s most storied, purpose-built tracks will provide the ultimate decision.

First up, on Sunday, is the Continental Tire Festival of Speed powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. (5 p.m. ET FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio). Teams then journey cross-continent for the Sept. 28 season finale at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

The top-10 competitors for the Daytona Prototype championship are separated by only five points and led by Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli with 269 points. The pair, winners of three of the 10 races, lead Christian Fittipaldi by two points followed by Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel (266), Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Joao Barbosa (265) and reigning DP champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (264).

Spirit of Daytona’s Richard Westbrook, then teamed with Antonio Garcia, is the defending winner of the two hours 45 minute competition on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course opened in 1957 on the former Fort Ord U.S. Army installation. Westbrook and current co-driver Ricky Taylor enter the season’s final races well down in the standings – 35 points behind the leaders.

Fogarty and Gurney, a native of Irvine, Calif. and son of racing legend Dan Gurney, won the race in 2009 and 2011. Angelelli and Pruett likewise have won at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the DP class.

Rojas and Pruett, a Sacramento, Calif. native who operates Pruett Vineyard at his estate in nearby Auburn, will be joined by former Indianapolis 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon in a second Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW/Riley. The primary No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX car leads the DP team standings by 14 points over Wayne Taylor Racing.

Sunday’s race marks the one-year anniversary of Scuderia Corsa’s entry into the Rolex Series GT class. Alessandro Balzan went from third to first following his first Rolex Series victory at Kansas Speedway. He shares the No. 63 Ferrari 458 Italia with two-time GT champion Leh Keen.

Magnus Racing drivers Andy Lally and John Potter in the No. 44 Flex-Box Porsche GT3 are just one point behind following an eighth-place Kansas finish – their worst of the season.

Italy’s Balzan won the pole for last year’s Monterey event. The GT class victory went to Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamaker, whose Team Sahlen moved to DP this season.

The season’s penultimate round marks the debut of Aston Martin in the Rolex Series GT class. TRG-AMR North America will field its No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

The No. 11 SDR/Lotus Racing Lotus Evora is set to debut in the GX class. It will be co-driven by Scott Dollahite and Austin GX winner Jeff Mossing. Driver of the no. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman Dr. Jim Norman leads the new class by virtue of winning the opening three rounds and then scoring seven consecutive runner-up finishes.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is a study in extremes. Rum Bum Racing and drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb have taken command of the Grand Sport class championship winning three races in the No. 13 Porsche. With a 51-point lead over Stevenson Motorsports drivers Matt Bell and John Edwards, the Rum Bum duo can clinch the title with an 11th-place finish this weekend.

The Street Tuner championship is anything but decided with three sets of drivers tied for the lead with 212 points apiece. Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller, drivers of the No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i share the lead with No. 75 Compass360 Racing FamiliesForHope.org Honda Civic Si driver Kyle Gimple and Ryan Eversley, along with Jeff Mosing and Jesse Combs, drivers of the No. 56 RACE EPIC/Murillo BMW 328i.

Freedom Autosport’s Derek Whitis and Tom Long took Monterey ST honors in 2012 driving a Mazda MX-5.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s two hour 30 minute Continental Tire Challenge race can be seen on FOX Sports 1 at 4 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 15.

Source : Grand Am

It certainly appears two is the operative number for two drivers in particular – Italian veteran Max Angelelli and his first-year co-driver Jordan Taylor of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP team of Wayne Taylor Racing – as they head to the West Coast for Sunday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Festival and the penultimate round of the 2013 Rolex Series schedule.

With their resounding victory in the inaugural Rolex Series race on the road course at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City Aug. 17 – their series-leading third win of the season – Angelelli and Taylor erased a seemingly insurmountable 12-point deficit in the driver standings and vaulted right back to the top, where things have gotten mighty cozy heading to this weekend’s next-to-last race of the year with no less than 10 drivers separated by a mere five points.

Angelelli and Taylor hold a two-point advantage over Christian Fittipaldi of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, a three-point advantage over Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow of the No. 2 Starworks BMW Riley, a four-point advantage over Fittipaldi’s co-driver Joao Barbosa, as well as the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP duo of Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, and a five-point advantage over three-time-defending series champs Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley.

The way things have been going this topsy-turvy season, it would seem to be anybody’s ballgame these last two events. But 2005 Rolex Series co-champion Angelelli and the No. 10 team look to earn Rolex Series title number two (there’s that number again) while he and his co-driver Taylor – appropriately enough for this story, age 22 – look to recreate the magic from their convincing wins at Kansas last month, Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., in April, and the Streets of Belle Isle in downtown Detroit in June, as well as their flawless effort that resulted in a runner-up finish at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Key to the championship for Angelelli and Taylor will be a solid podium finish or better at Laguna Seca, where Angelelli and Jan Magnussen co-drove to victory in 2006, but where the team has had less-than-desirable results more often than not with an average start of 4.43 and average finish of 5.86 in seven previous visits dating back to 2005.

Should they have another solid points day Sunday, their championship outlook is very good as the final stop on the tour is Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., where the team has won every Rolex Series DP race ever contested – 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Practice for Sunday’s two-hour, 45-minute Continental Tire Sports Car Festival begins Saturday morning with qualifying set for 8:45 p.m. EDT. Race time Sunday is 5 p.m. with live television provided by FOX Sports 1. Live radio coverage by the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 begins with pre-race festivities at 4:45 p.m.

Max Angelelli, co-driver of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:

You and your co-driver Jordan are atop the list that shows 10 drivers within five points of the championship with two races remaining. How incredible is that at this point in the season?

“The way the season has gone, it almost looks like nobody wants to win the championship because of all the crazy incidents that stir up the championship at just about every race.

It looks like nobody wants to win it. Seriously, it’s incredible how GRAND-AM has changed the last three or four years. If you look back, anyone with as many as three wins by this point in the season, like we have, would probably have clinched the championship by now.

This year, it’s nowhere near enough. So, that says a lot as far as how tough the GRAND-AM championship is and how important it is to be consistent. It’s all or nothing, win the race, or else. And it’s not like it’s just one incident here or there. There seem to be many incidents all through the race, lately, that change the complexion of the championship as it goes along.

Whoever can do the best job of not getting caught up in these incidents these last two races, that’s who will win the championship. I think that’s great for the fans. For me, it’s not stressful like you might think. I actually enjoy this situation because I know we will have fans watching and fans wondering who’s going to win the race, who’s going to win the championship, it’s impossible to say, right now.

Actually, it’s very hard to say any weekend in this series because anybody can win. Think about the last race in Kansas, where the 01 and the 9 were running first and second. Who would ever have thought they would crash each other out within 20 minutes of the start of the race. It’s GRAND-AM. This is how a championship should be.”

You won at Laguna Seca in 2006, but have only two other podium finishes over the years. Would you consider it one of your most challenging tracks?

“I think last year was the only year where we really did not perform. That was the only race where we were far off. And we were far off the entire weekend. We believe that our car is going to be a lot better this year. Some of the other tracks where we were out of it last year, we won this year or we were leading the race this year.

This is a sign we have improved our car a lot. The Velocity Worldwide Corvette should be very good at Laguna Seca this weekend, so I’m not too worried. I always enjoy driving at Laguna Seca. I always enjoy everything about the Laguna Seca weekend. Enjoy flying into San Francisco and enjoying the city a little before we get to the track.

I enjoy having breakfast at Laguna Seca. I enjoy having dinner at Laguna Seca. So, the fun does not stop when you leave the racetrack each day. I enjoy that weekend all around the clock.”

Jordan Taylor, co-driver of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:

You head to Laguna Seca leading the driver championship after things looked pretty bleak before the last few races. What are your thoughts about the rest of the season?

“It has been a crazy season. We were kind of out of it at the beginning, had a good lead in the middle of the season, then it all went away. We went to Kansas not thinking we were running for the championship, anymore, but thinking we were just racing for wins. I think all the competitors had those kinds of ups and downs at one point or another this year, if not at several points.

But we managed to slingshot right back into contention and into the lead. I don’t think I’ve seen a championship like this in any series, anywhere. So many drivers and teams with a really good shot at it. These final two races are going to be exciting. The winner will be the one who can salvage tiny points advantages here and there.

That will make the difference. It’s hard to get nervous for it because so much happens every race, we’re almost used to it. You never know what to expect. If you go into it nervous, you’re going to stress yourself out. We’ll just have to do what we have all year. We’ll go in with an open mind, roll off with a good car, do our usual excellent pit stops and strategy, and make sure.”

This is only your third race ever at Laguna Seca and only the second in a Daytona Prototype. How do you like the layout?

“Everyone likes Laguna. It’s one of the most famous tracks in America, probably around the world. Everyone knows it from the Corkscrew. It’s a fun track, made more fun this weekend by the fact we’re in the championship hunt. It’s a tight and technical track, difficult to pass, so I’m certain there will be rubbing.

Whoever has the best track position and tires is going to win. With our guys and how good pit stops and strategy have been this year, I like our chances. Another thing about Laguna is that the GTs aren’t as much slower than the DPs as a lot of other tracks, so they’ll actually be able to race us a little harder and make things a lot more interesting.

They’ll be making optimistic moves in traffic at a lot of places around the track, so inevitably there will be more contact than we normally see involving GT cars. We’ll just have to be sure to keep the effects of that to an absolute minimum.”

Any special thoughts looking back on your victory at Kansas Speedway three weekends ago and how you closed the deal?

“It was stressful, to say the least. I knew when we went green with just over an hour left that it was going to be between us and the 01 (Scott Pruett). We were in the lead. When made final stop and came out in second, I was able to get him because he was on cold tires, but then I knew I had to hold him off for 40 minutes or he was going to just blow on by me.

To hold him off for 40 minutes, a guy like Scott Pruett, probably one of the most successful American sports car drivers in history, that felt pretty incredible. Most people, I’m sure, were probably waiting for me to make a mistake under all that pressure. The main thing going through my head the whole time was not making a mistake. I didn’t make any mistakes that cost us, we won the race, so, naturally, I’m pretty happy with how it all came out.”

Wayne Taylor, team owner of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:

There’s quite a logjam at the top of the standings with five teams within five points of the driver championship lead that you hold by two points. Is that nerve-wracking with just two races to go?

“For the fans, it’s absolutely great and the way it should be. For the teams involved, it’s tough. It’s come down to the fact that it’s all about winning in this series and, in that respect, we’ve had a good year. We’ve won three races, led laps at most every race.

On the other hand, mistakes and stupid things have kept the points race as tight as it is now – not just for us, but for the other teams, too. That’s the nerve-wracking part. I can think of at least two if not more races where, if we wouldn’t have had incidents, we would have a healthy points lead. But that’s all in the past. We can only go into this race the way we went into the last one, and that’s to try and win. There’s no benefit to just getting points, anymore.”

Laguna Seca hasn’t been one of your team’s better tracks over the years. What is your outlook heading into this weekend?

“Laguna’s not been very good to us, but Brian (Pillar) our engineer says he has a magic setup he’s feeling pretty confident about – something we missed last year. We’ll go there with a narrow margin in the driver points, where it’s very, very close. I still think the balance of performance is out of whack.

I still feel our most realistic opportunity is racing the Corvettes because the BMWs are still in a different class. We’ll have to do it our way, do what we’ve tried to do every race, which is maximize track position because track position is everything. We’ll have to have another good qualifying effort, good work in the pits. It’s going to be a tough weekend. The Ganassi team is in the hunt, the Gainsco team is right there, the Starworks and Action Express teams are right there. Anything can happen.”

You’ve had a few weeks to digest that amazing win at Kansas. Any special thoughts on that, looking back?

“The team just did an amazing job. The strategy they used was really, really good. I questioned it even during the course of the race. But they’re the guys who did the calculating and it worked. It was all about where Max and Jordan came out on track – it was definitely all about track position.

One time we were behind Gustavo (Yacaman) and couldn’t do anything. One time we were behind (Joao) Barbosa. At the end, we just had a better strategy, and Jordan was on it like never before. It certainly ranks right up there among my favorite races of all time.”

Source : Wayne Taylor Racing

This weekend at the Continental Tires Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the team aims to improve upon that 5th place finish and put the #46 B+ Foundation/ Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 GRAND-AM on the podium with the duo of drivers Al Carter and Bryan Sellers teaming up for the two-hour-forty-five minute race.

Carter, who hails from Greenville, Del., has driven the Audi R8 at two previous events this year; first at Watkins Glen and most recently at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He has been extremely busy at the racetrack getting lots of seat time every chance he can get.

He recently drove a four-hour endurance race at New Jersey Motorsports Park and then followed it up with the American Le Mans event in Baltimore last weekend.

Bryan Sellers has been equally as busy, racing last weekend against his teammate this weekend in Carter at Baltimore. Sellers drove the Audi R8 for the first time at Kansas Speedway just over two weeks ago and ran very strong, turning the third fastest lap of the race.

As the Fall-Line Motorsports GRAND-AM GT program continues to excel due in part to the support of Audi Sport Customer Racing, the last two races on the 2013 schedule will be their best. Finishing up the season strong and showcasing the performance of the R8 and the talents of the drivers and team has been the short-term objective and the team is determined to meet those lofty goals.

Al Carter: “I am pulling double duty for Fall-Line this weekend, so I am preparing myself for a busy and exciting weekend. Without points as a concern, and Fall-Line having several races with the Audi R8 under their belt, we will be driving hard for a podium finish.”

Bryan Sellers: “It will be easy to roll into the race with Al (Carter) and get a good rhythm. We are very familiar with each other as Fall-Line teammates and I am looking forward to driving with him in the B+ Foundation Audi. At Kansas, we learned a lot about the race-ability of the car and where we need to improve that.

We have also been afforded a B.O.P. [Balance of Performance adjustment] from GRAND-AM that should improve the racecar. I am looking forward to getting back into the B+ Foundation/Fall-Line Audi and seeing the differences.”

Michael Harvey, Team Manager: “Since Kansas the Fall-Line crew has been extremely busy preparing for the last two events of 2013. With great support from Audi Sport Customer Racing we have made great strides in better understanding the package we have and head to Laguna looking to better our 5th place from the last event. I am excited for both Bryan and Al to drive together as we aim for the podium.”

The Continental Tire Sports Car Festival-Rolex Sports Car Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California is scheduled for Sunday, September 8th at 5p ET and will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports 1.

Source : Fall Line

And the team could do exactly that this weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca as the Joe Varde-led group holds a point advantage that could see the group clinch the championship title with a finish of 11th or better in Sunday’s race.

With just two races remaining in the 2013 championship, Rum Bum Racing enters the race weekend firmly atop the standings with a 51-point lead. Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi also lead the Driver Championship by the same margin.

In a season that has seen Rum Bum Racing travel to a range of tracks as varied as the wide open spaces of Road America and the tight confines of the Kansas Speedway roval, consistency has been key. Rum Bum Racing has won three races this year (Barber, Mid-Ohio, Road America) and has finished among the top-five in all but one race (the team finished 10th at Road Atlanta).

The No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche has completed all of the race laps in 2013 and has led laps in seven of nine races for a total of 91 laps led. These impressive stats have seen Rum Bum Racing at the top of the championship standings throughout most of the year.

As Rum Bum Racing returns to race action this weekend at Laguna Seca, the group takes to a track where it has been strong before. While driving the No. 13 BMW in Rum Bum Racing’s Laguna Seca debut in 2011, Longhi and Plumb drove to a podium finish of third.

In last year’s race, the Rum Bum squad looked well on its way to another podium finish in the No. 13 Porsche until a curious and confusing call from GRAND-AM came after Plumb followed the leading car to the green on one of the final restarts.

The leading car as well as Plumb was forced to pit road to serve a stop and go penalty with just six minutes remaining in the race, and with that, Rum Bum Racing relinquished a sure podium finish and a possible win.

While Rum Bum Racing looks for redemption this year, the group maintains its championship goal. Just as the team as done all season long, Rum Bum will focus on collecting points with a clean and straightforward race around the 2.238-mile California circuit.

“We’ve been really focused on the championship, ever since last year when we first started working on plans for the 2013 season,” said Plumb. “But now that we are so close, I have to admit that I don’t want to think about it at all! Hopefully we can just have a clean race and just see where we come out.

Joe (Varde) has all the guys really focused as usual, and we will just look to come in and execute on our plan, the same way we’ve done every weekend this year. “

The race weekend begins with a promoter test day on Friday. Official practice will take place on Saturday with the 15-minute GS qualifying session set for Saturday at 4:00 PM (PST). The 2.5-hour Continental Tire Sports Car Festival event will go green at 10:00 AM (PST) on Sunday.

Source : Rum Bum

The Florida-based team, who finished a season-best third earlier this year at Barber Motorsports Park, has proudly carried the VISITFLORIDA colors on the No. 90 machine through the 2013 season and targets the team’s second podium finish of the year this weekend.

While Spirit of Daytona Racing hasn’t seen the results the team had hoped for this year, the organization has persevered and carried positivity into each race outing when some unfortunate bad racing luck caught the team out in several races early in the year.

After a gearbox issue at Road America and a stuck throttle early in the race at Kansas, Spirit of Daytona Racing has utilized the three-week break in race action to re-group and prepare for a strong run at the 2.238-mile road course as GRAND-AM stages the penultimate round of the 2013 championship at Laguna Seca.

“Well, this was not the season that we were thinking we would have, but you know with how competitive GRAND-AM is, we knew that every race was going to be a battle,” said team owner Troy Flis. “So I’m proud of my guys and how everyone keeps stepping up.

I think coming out here to a track where we were able to execute so well last year has us all optimistic for the race. Richard and Ricky are both very good here, so we’ll just try to get the monkey off our back a little bit on Sunday!”

Sunday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Festival event will mark Spirit of Daytona Racing’s fifth appearance at the track. Last year’s victory at Laguna Seca with Westbrook and co-driver Antonio Garcia came after Westbrook claimed the pole and the pair led 41 laps on the way to the win. The result marked the team’s third victory of the year.

Taylor, who joined Spirit of Daytona Racing this year for the full 2013 season, has three previous starts at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca already under his belt. He scored his best result in 2011 when he finished third after starting on the pole while driving for SunTrust Racing.

The two-day race weekend format will see Spirit of Daytona Racing look to get up to speed quickly as GRAND-AM holds two practices on Saturday ahead of qualifying which is set to begin at 5:45 PM local time.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Festival will go green on Sunday at 2:00 PM (PST) with live coverage carried by FOX Sports 1 at 5:00 PM (ET).

Source : Spirit of Daytona

The 11th and penultimate round of this year’s 12-race schedule, the featured Continental Tire Sports Car Festival GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race can be seen live on FOX Sports 1, this Sunday, September 8, at 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT.

Just four points out of the championship lead, Gurney, Fogarty and the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance® Corvette Daytona Prototype team are heading to the right track at the right time in pursuit of what would be their third GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Championship.

The BobStallingsCars.com No. 99 GAINSCO squad won two of the last three races at Laguna Seca, back-to-back victories in 2009 and 2011 (GRAND-AM Road Racing did not appear at Laguna Seca in 2010), and finished second last year.

The 2009 Laguna victory was one of four that season that helped GAINSCO win its second championship. The first Daytona Prototype title was earned in 2007.

“This year’s championship is so tight at the moment, and so close, that it’s essentially like starting over, having a two race championship and seeing who comes out ahead,” Gurney said. “We’ve finished first, first and second in our last three races at Laguna so we feel very good about going there. I’ve always loved the place, and Jon and I have made each other better each year as far as picking up the little nuances of how to go fast around there.”

In addition to being the home track for California natives Gurney and Fogarty, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing made its GRAND-AM debut at Laguna in 2005. Gurney and Fogarty earned their first podium finish as a duo at Laguna in just their second race together in 2006, and the team has always been strong on the 2.238-mile Monterey road course.

“Laguna is an interesting track,” Fogarty said. “The car needs to work and it’s difficult to drive around setup issues here. We think we know what works, and hopefully our package works better that the others. I have a lot of confidence in the team to put out a strong car, and Laguna is a good track for the Corvettes.”

Although only four points behind the championship leaders, Gurney and Fogarty rank fourth in the standings with 265 points. Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli currently top the Daytona Prototype championship with 269 points, Christian Fittipaldi is second with 267 and Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow are third with 266 markers.

“We’re confident, but the competition level in the Rolex Series has gone up several notches in all departments,” Gurney said. “We’re expecting an extremely tough race.”

As tight as the championship is, it may be difficult for GAINSCO or any other team to leave Monterey with a firm lock on the title heading into the season-ending race later this month at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

“With the level that all the teams and drivers are at right now, I don’t think it will be possible to get it done in one race,” Fogarty said. “We will have to excel both at Laguna and in at Lime Rock to win the championship. Our performance at Laguna has always been strong so I see it as a stepping stone to the title.”

A two-day event, the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival begins with a pair of practice sessions Friday before Daytona Prototype qualifying that afternoon at 5:45 p.m. PDT. Race-day Saturday’s only GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series action is the featured 2-3/4-hour race that begins at 2 p.m. PDT.

Source : Bob Stallings Racing

After eight months in the planning, the time has come for TRG-AMR to launch the amazing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 racecar and no better place than at its home track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The teams from the U.S. and U.K. have been preparing for this monumental event. The unveiling of the new race car in U.S. endurance racing should mark an important moment in history of Aston Martin Racing here in North America.

Driving the inaugural event of the GT3 will be Aston Martin Racing factory driver Darren Turner and Sonoma race winner Brandon Davis. Turner comes to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca fresh off a second place at the WEC event in Brazil last week. He is the current championship point leader in the FIA World Endurance Cup. Turner has been a long-time factory team member, and his accomplishments include 2007 and 2008 GT1 victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the Aston Martin DB9.

Davis comes off Aston Martin Racing’s inaugural North American win this season for TRG-AMR driving the Vantage GT4 at Sonoma Raceway. He has a long association with TRG racing a variety of cars. Earlier this year, Davis piloted TRG-AMR’s GT4 run at the Long Beach Grand Prix and has a long and successful history in professional sports car racing.

Highlighting the team’s first Grand-Am Rolex event are several important corporate partners. PayPal and Hewlett-Package (HP) have come on board for the race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

ACS returns to the TRG-AMR North America team after the teams’ win in Sonoma. The partnership connects three progressive Silicon Valley-based companies to this inaugural endeavor and highlights the value of sports car racing and what the future will hold with the new United SportsCar Racing Series.

Houston based Royal Purple has also come onboard as a partner for this weekend and for the upcoming Lime Rock Grand-Am Rolex round. Royal Purple is an American manufacturer that produces lubricants for automotive, industrial, marine, motorcycle and racing use.

In addition to the above partnerships for the weekend, Aston Martin Los Gatos/Los Gatos Luxury Cars will be a big part of the weekend as the dealer/partner for this race. They are the dealer of choice for Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Lotus in the San Francisco Bay Area. They will be at the track during the week and supporting the team with a beautiful new Aston Martin Vanquish streetcar on display.

The Grand-Am Rolex race airs Sunday, September 8 at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT on Fox Sports 1.

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series President and CEO Ed Bennett: “The introduction of the Aston Martin GT3 to our series is certainly something we’ve been looking forward to with great anticipation. I know Kevin has worked very hard this year to bring something special to the paddock, and it certainly appears as if he’s succeeded. Having great partners like PayPal, HP, ACS, and Royal Purple indicates that sports car racing is really catching the attention of the corporate world as well.”

TRG-AMR CEO Kevin Buckler on Laguna Seca: “What an incredible moment this is! To debut this Aston Martin racing program in one of the world’s elite sports car series with the new V12 Vantage GT3 is one of the benchmarks that we have been building toward. The GT3 is an incredible race car and has been built specifically to race here in the Grand-Am series. With one of Aston Martin’s most decorated and successful drivers on our team along with a talented champion like Brandon, we believe we can really be strong for this opening weekend. The team has been testing and all of the guys have been working so hard to be ready. We are absolutely thrilled with the corporate partnership and support that we are getting from PayPal, HP, ACS, and Royal Purple, and our local Aston Martin dealer. This speaks volumes not only to the legacy this team has created but more importantly to the marketing and business platform that sportscar racing has now opened for corporate America. I’m a huge fan of the new United SportsCar Racing Series and where professional sports car racing is headed in North America. This is a great testament to all of that and only the beginning.”

Darren Turner about the Aston Martin race program: “I’ve been fortunate to have raced for Aston Martin for many years all over the world. AMR builds great race cars, and I am more than thrilled that I will have the chance to make history here in North America with the GT3′s first run in the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Kevin has always run a first rate operation, one based on attention to details that has produced some great results over the years. And I look forward to racing with Brandon as well. He’s certainly had some success in the Astons, and we will be a great team!!”

Brandon Davis about racing with TRG-AMR: “TRG-AMR has provided a great opportunity for me this year to drive these amazing Aston Martin race cars. From Long Beach early in the year to Sonoma a few weeks ago, I must say that I really love racing these cars. Not only are they easy to drive but they are fast and always competitive. I feel like I have a chance to win every time I get behind the wheel. I look forward to driving the GT3 for the first time, and being with Darren, one of Aston’s all-time great factory drivers, will be a great experience for me. I’m also excited to have support from ACS again. We had a great weekend winning in Sonoma! With the addition of HP and PayPal we hope to repeat the success!”

Source : TRG AMR

First up, on Sunday, is the Continental Tire Festival of Speed powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. (5 p.m. ET FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio). Teams then journey cross-continent for the Sept. 28 season finale at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

The top-10 competitors for the Daytona Prototype championship are separated by only five points and led by Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli with 269 points. The pair, winners of three of the 10 races, lead Christian Fittipaldi by two points followed by Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel (266), Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Joao Barbosa (265) and reigning DP champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (264).

Spirit of Daytona’s Richard Westbrook, then teamed with Antonio Garcia, is the defending winner of the two hours 45 minute competition on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course opened in 1957 on the former Fort Ord U.S. Army installation. Westbrook and current co-driver Ricky Taylor enter the season’s final races well down in the standings – 35 points behind the leaders.

Fogarty and Gurney, a native of Irvine, Calif. and son of racing legend Dan Gurney, won the race in 2009 and 2011. Angelelli and Pruett likewise have won at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the DP class.

Rojas and Pruett, a Sacramento, Calif. native who operates Pruett Vineyard at his estate in nearby Auburn, will be joined by former Indianapolis 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon in a second Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW/Riley. The primary No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX car leads the DP team standings by 14 points over Wayne Taylor Racing.

Sunday’s race marks the one-year anniversary of Scuderia Corsa’s entry into the Rolex Series GT class. Alessandro Balzan went from third to first following his first Rolex Series victory at Kansas Speedway. He shares the No. 63 Ferrari 458 Italia with two-time GT champion Leh Keen.

Magnus Racing drivers Andy Lally and John Potter in the No. 44 Flex-Box Porsche GT3 are just one point behind following an eighth-place Kansas finish – their worst of the season.

Italy’s Balzan won the pole for last year’s Monterey event. The GT class victory went to Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamaker, whose Team Sahlen moved to DP this season.

The season’s penultimate round marks the debut of Aston Martin in the Rolex Series GT class. TRG-AMR North America will field its No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

The No. 11 SDR/Lotus Racing Lotus Evora is set to debut in the GX class. It will be co-driven by Scott Dollahite and Austin GX winner Jeff Mossing. Driver of the no. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman Dr. Jim Norman leads the new class by virtue of winning the opening three rounds and then scoring seven consecutive runner-up finishes.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is a study in extremes. Rum Bum Racing and drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb have taken command of the Grand Sport class championship winning three races in the No. 13 Porsche. With a 51-point lead over Stevenson Motorsports drivers Matt Bell and John Edwards, the Rum Bum duo can clinch the title with an 11th-place finish this weekend.

The Street Tuner championship is anything but decided with three sets of drivers tied for the lead with 212 points apiece. Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller, drivers of the No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i share the lead with No. 75 Compass360 Racing FamiliesForHope.org Honda Civic Si driver Kyle Gimple and Ryan Eversley, along with Jeff Mosing and Jesse Combs, drivers of the No. 56 RACE EPIC/Murillo BMW 328i.

Freedom Autosport’s Derek Whitis and Tom Long took Monterey ST honors in 2012 driving a Mazda MX-5.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s two hour 30 minute Continental Tire Challenge race can be seen on FOX Sports 1 at 4 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 15.

Source : Grand Am

The No. 02 Dinan-Prepared BMW will return to action for a third time in 2013 (Rolex 24 At Daytona, Brickyard Grand Prix) but will now include the Target Chip Ganassi Racing IZOD IndyCar Series duo of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.  The Cessna-backed DP entry will run alongside the season-long effort (No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX Dinan-Prepared BMW) driven by reigning Series Champions and Rolex 24 At Daytona Winners Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, who hold the distinction of being the most successful driving duo in series history with 27 race wins.

In January, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams (CGRT) announced a multi-year sponsorship with Cessna including cars across all three series in which CGRT competes.  The world’s leading general aviation company is the co-primary sponsor on the No. 1 Chevrolet SS of Jamie McMurray in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) – sharing assets with sister Textron companies Bell Helicopter and E-Z-GO golf carts – and partnered with Pruett and Rojas on the No. 01 car at Detroit earlier this season.  Cessna will also partner with the No. 10 Honda of Franchitti in the IZOD IndyCar Series later this season.

Scott Ernest, President and CEO, Cessna:

• “It is such a pleasure to work with a team as dedicated as the Chip Ganassi Racing Team. Just as Cessna continues to find new ways to serve our customer’s aviation needs, the team at CGRT continues to find new ways to develop and promote our partnership across all components of racing. It will be fantastic to see the Daytona Prototype with the Cessna logo out at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.”

Steve Lauletta, President, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams:

• “This is a special opportunity for our Daytona Prototype program and for our partner Cessna. Anytime you can pair two of the best Indy car drivers out there in the same car makes for an immediate contender. We try and assemble an impressive lineup in the No. 02 car for the Rolex 24 At Daytona each season, and this year we’ve been able to provide more opportunities for our sponsors like with Tony Kanaan and Joey Hand at Indianapolis, and now Scott and Dario for Cessna at Laguna Seca.”

Source : Chip Ganassi Racing

In Kasas for the latest round of the Grand Am championship Scuderia Corsa scored a fantastic win with drivers Leh Keen and Alessandro Balzan. Emil Assentato and Anthony Lazarro finish on podium for fourth time this season with the AIM Autosports car. These results mean that Ferrari now leads driver, team, and manufacturer championships.

The victory, which was the fifth for the Ferrari 458 Italia in the Series, extended Ferrari’s lead in the manufacturer championship and also vaulted Balzan and Scuderia Corsa to the lead of the GT driver and team championships.

“We have been close many times to a win, and for this race Scuderia Corsa really worked out an incredible strategy,” said Balzan. “We worked on the Ferrari not to be really fast at the beginning of a stint, but to be faster the longer the race went on. Also, Leh Keen gave me a lot of help, bringing all his experience to the team. We are very happy and very proud to be a part of Scuderia Corsa. We know that the championship will be very hard, but I think there is no better time and moment to win a race than this point of the championship.”

Keen was equally thrilled to help Scuderia Corsa win their first Grand Am race, and to score his first win at the wheel of a Ferrari 458 Italia.

“Scuderia Corsa has been in the hunt for the championship all year long and has been waiting for this breakthrough win,” said Keen. “There’s no better time to do it than right here. There are still two races to go and we are leading the championship and this is what the team has been aiming for. So I really want to thank them for bringing me on board and I’m glad that I could help a little bit on their first win, the guys knocked out awesome pit stops, the strategy was on point, and Balzan drove an awesome final couple of stints to bring it home.”

Team owner Giacamo Mattioli, whose Scuderia Corsa team debuted in the series last September at Laguna Seca, now sees his team lead the GT team championship.

“To win our first race is a fantastic feeling,” said Mattioli. “We felt like we had won in Texas, but this is the first official victory of Scuderia Corsa and we won because the team did a fantastic job. Leh and Alessandro drove very well, the strategy was impeccable, and we executed. So I am very happy for Ferrari and leading the championship looking forward to Laguna Seca.”

Also finishing on the podium were Emil Assentato and Anthony Lazarro in the #69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia. This was the duo’s fourth podium finish of the season in the Rolex Series, bringing them within ten points of the driver and team championship.

Unfortunately for the no. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia, a pit lane penalty would drop them from the race lead to an eventual sixth place finish. The car, which was qualified on pole position by Alex Tagliani, led much of the first half of the race with Tagliani and Jeff Segal behind the wheel. Segal would also record the fastest lap of the race.

The next round of the Series be at Laguna Seca on September 8, and will be shown live at 5:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1 in the USA.

Meanwhile at the Slovakiaring there was more success for Ferrari with the AF Corse car, driven by Claudio Sdanewitsch and Michele Rugolo, took the win in the Gentlemen’s trophy. The other Ferrari, again entered by AF Corse and driven by Filip Salaquarda and Fabio Onidi in the Pro Am cup, scored a credible fourth place in this competitive class. The next round of the championship takes place at he Spanish circuit of Navarra on the 29 September.l

Source : Ferrari Corse Clienti

It was the first GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series victory for both drivers of the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW/Riley. Hartley had shown flashes of brilliance through his rookie season – with the 23-year-old Formula One simulator development driver nearly winning at Circuit of The Americas before a late-race mistake.

“This was an emotional win for me,” Hartley said. “I’m not going to lie – I had a lot of flashbacks to COTA. But I knew we had it covered, so I just brought it home.”

The turn of events that put Hartley and Mayer – of Franklin, Wis. – in victory lane began with misfortune for Starworks teammates Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow, who won the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis in the No. 2 Soloson BMW/Riley. Dalziel lost his engine exiting the pits after a stop with one hour remaining and came to a stop at the exit of Turn 1 – bringing out the first caution of the race. Most of the remaining leaders pitted during a later caution – putting Hartley ahead to stay.

Hartley and Mayer completed 70 laps in the two-hour, 45-minute race on the 4.048-mile circuit, averaging 102.974 mph.

Action Express Racing finished second and third. Joao Barbosa finished 4.290 seconds behind Hartley in the No. 5 Corvette DP started by Christian Fittipaldi. Brothers Brian and Burt Frisselle took the final podium position in the No. 9 Corvette DP.

Polesitter Dane Cameron and co-driver Wayne Nonnamaker dominated much of the race in the No. 42 Team Sahlen’s BMW/Riley. Cameron broke an axle while leading on lap 54 – moments before the engine let go in Stephane Sarrazin’s No. 3 Corvette DP resulting in a spin to Wayne Nonnamaker in the No. 43 Team Sahlen’s BMW/Riley to bring out the final caution.

Max Angelelli took the lead in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP started by Jordan Taylor when Cameron pulled off. Team owner Wayne Taylor was visibly upset when the final caution flag waved – knowing that Harley and the Action Express teammates did not need another pit stop.

Dalziel and Popow wound up 14th, trimming their Daytona Prototype points lead to four points over Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney (246-242), who finished eighth in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP.

Both the GT and GX classes featured lead changes in the final minutes – and both winners came to a stop on the cooldown lap.

Bill Auberlen prevailed in a terrific battle with Patrick Long to join Paul Dalla Lana in winning GT in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, their third victory of the season. Long finished second in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3 started by Patrick Lindsey, followed by Michael Marsal and Maxime Martin in the No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 and Indianapolis winner Jeff Segal, who was joined by Ken Wilden in the No. 61 R. Ferri/AIM Motorsport Ferrari 458.

Andy Lally and John Potter finished fifth in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3, extending their lead in the GT standings to seven points over Robin Liddell and John Edwards (255-248), who finished eighth in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro.

Joel Miller led the final four laps to take his fourth GX victory in the No. 00 Visit Florida Racing/SpeedSource Mazda 6, joined by three-time winner Tristan Nunez. Points leader Jim Norman and Spencer Pumpelly finished second in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman. Norman now leads Miller by 10 points, 297-287.

Auberlen ran out of fuel in Turn 5 after taking the checkered flag, while Miller came to a stop with a broken drive shaft.

Source : Grand-Am

Race: VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250, race nine of 12 of the 2013 Rolex
Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototype season

Date: August 10, 2013

Location: Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course

Qualified: No. 3 – 11; No. 4 – 4* *driver change from qualifying started 14th

Finished: No. 3 – 12; No. 4 – Ninth

Race Rewind

8Star Motorsports again showed its potential to be one of the top teams in the Rolex Grand-Am Daytona Prototype field but the day at Road America proved to be another learning experience instead of another podium finish for the first-year team.

Stephane Sarrazin was piloting the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette DP and in eighth place when engine trouble ended the team’s day with just 44 minutes remaining. An early spin put the No. 4 Corvette DP a lap down but Sebastien Bourdais drove another strong race, including the fastest lap of the race, to bring home a ninth-place finish.

8Star Motorsports team owner Enzo Potolicchio and Emilio DiGuido started the race, in the No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, for the 2.75-hour endurance race on the 4.048-mile road course north of Milwaukee. DiGuido spun on lap 7 but gathered it up and continued on without further incident. Pit stops and driver changes 40 minutes into the race saw Michael Valiante jump into the No. 3 and Bourdais take over the controls of the No. 4. Valiante was 12th and Bourdais 14th, one lap down, when the entered the action on lap 19.

Both drivers had moved up a spot at the one-hour mark. Bourdais pitted on lap 37 at the 1:17-hour mark and the No. 3 came in three minutes later for a driver change from Valiante to Sarrazin. The first full-course caution of the day came out at the 1:32 mark (lap 43) with the No. 3 in 10th and the No. 4 in 12th. Green-flag racing resumed on lap 48 (54 minutes remaining) with Sarrazin seventh and Bourdais 12th.

The race for the No. 3 team ended just two laps later when the engine let go. In a strange turn of events, the main beneficiary of the full-course caution was the No. 4, which was given the wave-around to get back on the lead lap. He came down pit road under caution with 23 minutes remaining for a final splash of fuel from the 8Star pit crew and returned for the final restart in the ninth position.

Unfortunately, Bourdais only had time to get halfway around the track before racing resumed and was never able to make up the difference. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, however, since he ran the fastest lap of the race, 2:01.252 minutes at 120.186 mph, on the 70th and FINAL lap of the race. The No. 3 team finished 12th in the DP class.

The No. 3 8Star Corvette DP remained sixth in the DP team point standings with 219 points. It’s now 15 points out of fifth place and 32 behind the point-leading team.

The 10th race of the 2013 Rolex Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototype season is Saturday, August 17 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. Green flag for the SFP Grand Prix 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.

Quotes

Stephane Sarrazin (No. 3 Corvette DP):

“It was very strange. I was running a good pace and the engine just stopped. It’s a shame because we had a good race strategy for a strong finish but it wasn’t meant to be.”

Michael Valiante (No. 3 Corvette DP):

“Enzo did a great job and handed the car over to me in a good position. We made up one or two spots during my stint. Overall, we were running pretty well before we lost the engine. I’ve been with 8Star for four races now and we’re coming together as a team. There’s a lot of potential in the Corvette DP.”

Enzo Potolicchio (team owner, No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette DPs):

“The engine change is going to make the 8Star team work that much harder getting ready for Kansas. We’re making progress with our Chevy Corvette DP. Bourdais had a great run and just needed another caution to get caught and really make a charge because he was running as fast as the leaders. I think we’ve improved the car in the low downforce setup and we’ll continue to work hard to get back on the podium.

Sebastien Bourdais (No. 4 Corvette DP):

“I don’t know what happened to the track. When I went out, it was a total disaster. It was loose. It was understeer. It was pretty horrible. Then I heard that everybody was struggling so I just tried to do the best I could and my lap times were comparable to the other guys. It looked like, in the end, we were pretty decent and then we started fighting with the leaders and I nearly got the lap back by pace but it’s tough because you can’t take a chance on the leader when you’re a lap down. I passed Cameron on his out lap but got bottled up and he got me back … you can’t race the (leader) so I tried to do the best I could. After the pit stop, I thought we had a shot because my out lap was pretty decent but we ended up losing a (lot) of time. I don’t know what happened there but it was definitely surprising and disappointing. And then the yellow looked like it was never going to come but it did and we got our lap back. It’s too bad Grand-Am didn’t do their usual and let us pack up for the restart. We needed half a lap to catch up but weren’t able to and that’s what took us out of the race. The wave-around is one thing but you need to be packed up on such a long track to stand a chance. On top of that, I came up on the 43 exiting the pits and lost a few seconds … it was not meant to be. Having to deal with all the GTS and still get some pretty good lap times is an indication that we were making the right decisions on the setup of the Corvette DP. When the track was greasy, the car wasn’t very good but, when it cooled off, the car was really good. The car was fast but you need to have a flawless race. We’ll keep digging and see what we can do in Kansas.

Source : 8Star Motorsports

Starworks’ planned strategy to conserve fuel in the latter stages worked out, as it gave Hartley track position with 30 minutes remaining. Hartley then left the field in his wake and was the fastest car in the field before backing off to take the chequered flag with 4.290 seconds to spare.

The New Zealander said: “I want to give a big thanks to Scott, Peter and the whole Starworks team who did a brilliant job with the strategy to save fuel. Scott did a great job on his first stint. This is a great day as I haven’t had a win in a while and I really needed a good result and thankfully it came today.”

Hartley made his Daytona Prototype debut with Starworks at this years’ Daytona 24 Hour.

Hartley is of course well-known for being a member of the Red Bull young driver programme for four years, which gave him the opportunity to be F1 reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2009 and 2010. Since this deal ended in 2010 Brendon has raced in World Series by Renault, GP2. Most recently Brendon is regarded as one of the leading young stars of Grand Am in the USA and also in LMP2 in Europe.

Brendon is also the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 test and simulator driver.

The next round of the Rolex Grand Am Series is at the Kansas Speedway on August 16th and 17th

Source : Brendon Hartley

Despite the fact that the Audi R8 race car has celebrated great success around the world in GT3 racing as well as here in the U.S., as they won the Daytona 24 Hour race earlier this year, Fall-Line’s Audi R8 GRAND-AM customer racing program was launched only eight weeks ago.

“Fall-Line has only two races under their belt with the Audi R8 customer racing program with little to no time to test and develop the race car,” said Mark Boden, Fall-Line driver and principal. “The current car configuration does not allow both Fall-Line and its drivers to race at its optimum level delivering the results expected by the team, its drivers, Audi, the series and ultimately our many fans. We need to collectively look and prepare for the bigger picture and develop a package that is worthy to campaign against the other world-class marques and teams in the newly defined series in 2014.”

The decision to withdraw from Road America underscores the team’s dedication to its drivers and to further develop the customer racing program to campaign for the newly forged 2014 United SportsCar Racing Series GTD Championships.

“Fall-Line Motorsports, like Audi, is a customer driven company and therefore this is the right decision to make,” said Michael Harvey, Fall-Line’s team manager. “Obviously it’s a disappointment to have to withdraw from a race, more so since Road America is considered our home race with our headquarters a couple of hours away.

The Fall-Line Motorsports team, with the support of Audi Sport customer racing, is working with GRAND-AM and looks forward to future races.

Source : Fall-Line Motorsports

Keen, a Georgia native said, “It’s been a while since the last time I qualified in a Rolex GT race which was at Daytona 2010. Scuderia Corsa is all about being first in line for practice sessions, first in the car and being ready. We were immediately running fast on our first lap and the car was really strong. A great result in our start for the championship.”

Scuderia Corsa’s technical director, Roberto Amorosi, added, “I’m proud of the crew’s efforts after a long night of fine tuning. After the practice sessions we were confident we had a strong car and Leh proved it with his amazing lap time. We have a challenging race ahead of us considering the level of competition but our team is looking forward to confirm today position!” Today’s qualifying session for the #63 was dampened by the #64 Scuderia Corsa making contact with the barrier but it is already undergoing repairs and will be ready for tomorrow’s race.

Tomorrow’s Visitflorida.com 250 marks the first time that Grand-AM and ALMS will share a weekend of racing prior to their merger next season as United Sports Car Racing. Several drivers, including Scuderia Corsa’s Leh Keen, will be racing in both series this weekend.

Source : Scuderia Corsa

The Corvette owners group, which had members from more than 10 states as well as Canada, got the chance to take a behind the scenes look as Spirit of Daytona Racing prepared the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette DP for Saturday’s race. It was a busy day on the track for the team as well, as Spirit of Daytona Racing had one final practice session in the morning before taking to the track to qualify for Saturday’s 2.75-hour event.

Spirit of Daytona Racing will start the VISITFLORIDA.com Sports Car 250 at Road America from the fifth row as Ricky Taylor and Richard Westbrook will look to make the most out of Saturday’s 2.75-hour race as GRAND-AM stages Round 9 of the 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series championship.

Spirit of Daytona Racing had a productive day of practice on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s 15-minute morning qualifying session which saw Taylor put down a fast lap time of 2:01.67-seconds in the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA machine.

Both Taylor and Westbrook have plenty of experience at the Wisconsin road course, having both stood on the podium at Road America in previous years. Westbrook claimed victory while driving in the American Le Mans Series and Taylor finished third in the 2011 Rolex Series event. Both drivers look to use their previous knowledge of the challenging circuit to move forward during Saturday’s 2.75-hour race.

“It was great to have all the Corvette owners here with us today,” offered team owner Troy Flis. “This track is great because it always has some of the best fans and the Corvette club is really active. So that was a fun part of the day, just to have them all here and get to show them a little bit of what we do on these race weekends. We were hoping to have a little bit something more to show them in qualifying. But we just didn’t hit the window right as far as the sweet spot with the tires and that magic lap. But tomorrow is what matters, so hopefully we can come forward once we get going.”

Road America marks the sprint to the finish of the GRAND-AM season with just four races remaining, and Spirit of Daytona is looking for a strong start to the final run with a positive result on Saturday.

Source : Spirit of Daytona

John Edwards, who shares the No. 57 Camaro GT.R with Robin Liddell, posted the fourth quickest lap time during Friday’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series qualifying session which saw just one flying lap for the Camaro when a lengthy black flag period kept the GT cars on pit lane for the remainder of the quick 15-minute session. Unfortunately, the post-race inspection saw the ride height measurements not aligned with the regulations, and the Camaro will need to make a big move from the back of the pack as the qualifying time was disallowed.

The Stevenson Motorsports No. 9 Camaro GS.R will start from the fourth row in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) race as Matt Bell and John Edwards, who sit second in the CTSCC championship, target a return to the podium. Bell posted a qualifying time of 2:23.718-seconds to take eighth on the grid.

“We ended up taking about half of a second off yesterday and the same today so that’s a good improvement,” said Bell. “Mike Johnson is doing strategy, even with a broken leg and I think he is really our secret weapon. He has this vision for the field and he knows exactly what is going on. He has made some really great literally split-second decisions as to whether or not to pit and those are what decide where we are at the checkered flag. We aren’t the fastest car in the field, we may not even be top-10, but we are optimistic because we have the best strategist and I think John (Edwards) and I know how to manage this field pretty well.”

It will be a very busy day of race action for Stevenson Motorsports on Saturday as the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and Rolex Series races will run back-to-back. Edwards, who pilots both the No. 57 and No. 9 Camaros, will pull triple duty this weekend as he also takes part in the American Le Man Series event on Sunday.

Source : Stevenson Motorsports

Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, Calif.) turned up the speed early in the session and it paid off. His lap of two-minutes, 11.415-seconds was strong enough to make the No. 73 Park Place Porsche the quickest of the 911 GT3 Cup cars. Lindsey, who shares the car with factory driver Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.), will start third behind the pole-winning effort of Leh Keen in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 whose lap of 2:11.183 was 0.181 seconds quicker than the Texas-based Porsche. The No. 94 Turner Motorsports BMW M3 driven by Paul Dalla Lana was second quickest in the qualifying session with a lap of 2:11.234.

“That was a good qualifying session for us but we only got one flyer before the red flag,” said Lindsey. “The Park Place Porsche was really good. That was actually a conservative lap for me. We haven’t been unloading great when we get to the track but the Park Place crew has been on it and they got us to the top of the time sheets again this weekend. Third is a good spot for us to start. We’re just going to hit our marks tomorrow just like at Indy. We had a great shot to win that race before the shift linkage problem.”

Source : Porsche Cars North America

Round 9 of the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, the timed 2-3/4-hour VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 can be seen live on SPEED tomorrow, Saturday, August 10, at 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT.

“We recognized this morning in practice that we needed to head in a different direction,” Fogarty said. “We started down that path but weren’t able to make any progress because of some yellows.

So we made our best guess at it for qualifying. It was definitely better, but it needs some fine tuning.”

Fogarty turned a top time of 2:01.245 (120.193 mph) on his fourth flying lap of the timed 15-minute qualifying session.

“It was an OK qualifying session, we improved the car some, but maybe didn’t have the aero balance exactly the way we want,” Gurney said. “A lot of big changes from last year as far as what everybody up and down pit lane are doing aero wise. We have been adjusting to that a little bit.”

The No. 99 GAINSCO “Red Dragon,” and Gurney and Fogarty, finished third one race ago at Indianapolis, the lone Corvette in the top four that saw faster BMW-powered Daytona Prototypes finish first, second and fourth.

“I don’t think we have anything for the BMWs again but we certainly are close to being right up there with the fastest Corvettes,” Fogarty said. “Small changes around here really add up. It is such a long track with so many corners. If we can just fine tune it we will be in good shape, and I think we know how to do that.”

Track time is limited this weekend and Friday morning’s final practice was even shorter than scheduled due to some session-stopping on-track incidents.

“The morning session was kind of a waste because we just weren’t on track very much,” Gurney said. “It got black flagged just when we were starting to go out a couple of times. We did qualify ahead of the No. 2, and they are the championship leader, so that is good.”

Gurney and Fogarty are second in the driver standings with 229 points, 10 behind championship leaders Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow in the No. 2 Starworks BMW Riley. The same 229 points has the BobStallingsCars.com No. 99 GAINSCO “Red Dragon” ranked third in the team standings.

Race-day Saturday for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series features only the VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 race that is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. CDT.

Source : Bob Stallings GAINSCO