In the weeks following the season-opener Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Spirit of Daytona team put in long hours preparing for their trip to Homestead-Miami Speedway. The team’s main goal going into Round 2 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season was to get the #90 Coyote running back up front with more stability. In a weekend that offered limited track time, finding a good setup for the car was critical, and the team saw improvement with each practice session.
Qualifying the #90 in 8th place, Buddy Rice also started the race for Spirit of Daytona. He delivered a strong performance, steadily moving up and staying in the top five for much of his stint, running as high as 4th at one point.
Rice was encouraged by the improvement in the car, saying “We really had a good run going today. We lost a little time when I had a spin after contact with the Krohn car, but when it cooled off later in the day I think our car got a lot better. The improvement allowed us to stay in the window and get the pace back a bit. Spirit of Daytona is definitely making gains and I think we will just continue to get better and better.”
Antonio Garcia agreed with Rice, saying, “We made quite a bit of progress throughout the weekend. The team did a good job for us and the car ran all the sessions without problems.
Buddy did a great job during the first half of the race and kept us in good position. We were keeping a steady pace and staying on the lead lap. When we did the driver change, I came out on the straightaway in front of the leader and for me, it was really difficult. The lighting wasn’t very good and where the other drivers were following someone, I was one of the few drivers going straight out into the night. I was struggling to get up to speed, and then I found myself in a spot with no one in front of me and I lost the apex of Turn 2. I did a 360 degree spin and lost a few seconds, and then later I started to get strong vibrations. I was afraid I had a bad tire, but it was a differential problem. It became really difficult at the end as I couldn’t see the racetrack and I was a lap down and unable to fight for position. I did mange to stay pretty close and held my position in the closing laps. I was happy to see the car’s improvement and am looking forward to our next race. I think we will be much more competitive as the season progresses.”
Team owner and Manager Troy Flis had praise for his team and drivers. “I’m happy with this weekend’s outcome,” he said. “We ran in the top five most of the day. We had a differential problem late in the race that took us out of the top five, but other than that, the car was very secure and more stable for our drivers. We will be working hard to make the #90 Coyote stronger and faster for Barber and for the rest of the season.”
Spirit of Daytona ended the race in 7th place, which boosted them to 10th place in the Rolex Series Team Point Standings. The team is looking forward to their next race at Barber Motorsports Park, the scene of their best finish of 2009. That race will be held on April 10th, 2010.
Source : Spirit of Daytona Racing