Tight Championship Battle Resumes This Weekend at VIR 400
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 24, 2007) -- After more than a month off, the
battle for the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown
Royal Special Reserve returns to the forefront this weekend at Virginia
International Raceway for split Daytona Prototype and GT races at the
VIR 400 (GT Race -- SPEED, Tape, 4/28, 8:30 p.m. ET, Daytona Prototype
race -- SPEED, Live, 4/29, 1:00 p.m. ET).
No. 01 TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley driver Scott Pruett leads
the Daytona Prototype championship standings by a single point over No.
10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley co-drivers Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen,
93-92, heading into this weekend's race on the 3.27-mile 17-turn VIR
road circuit. Pruett's points lead is courtesy of his victory in the
season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona with co-drivers Salvador Duran and
Juan Pablo Montoya, and a pair of top-four finishers with full-time
co-driver Memo Rojas.
Pruett may well escape this weekend with the points lead if past history
is any indication, as he has finished on the podium in all three of his
previous races at VIR, including a victory in 2005. However, VIR has
also been good to Angelelli, who won there in 2004 and has placed inside
the top four in each of his three previous appearances. Also working in
Angelelli's favor is the fact that he and Magnussen have finished inside
the top five in their last 10 races as co-drivers and have finished on
the podium in all three of their starts this season.
While championship battles between the No. 01 and No. 10 teams have
basically remained constant since both teams joined the Rolex Series
in 2004, the last two races have seen a pair of teams earn their first
Rolex Series victories. In Round 2 at Mexico City, No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob
Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley co-drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty
finally broke through for a long-awaited victory, while two-time Rolex
Series GT champion Bill Auberlen and his No. 05 Luggage Express Team
Sigalsport BMW Riley co-driver Matthew Alhadeff claimed their first win
in Daytona Prototype competition in Round 3 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While the No. 01, No. 99 and No. 05 teams have already celebrated in
Victory Lane this weekend, the No. 10 team leads a long list of talented
teams that may break through this weekend. Certainly, the No. 75 Krohn
Racing Pontiac Riley pairing of Colin Braun and Max Papis must be
considered top contenders after a near miss at Mexico City, where they
finished second, and three top-11 results to open the year. Another
one to watch will be Patrick Carpentier in the No. 11 South Coast
Fish Company/SAMAX Pontiac Riley. The Canadian has a pair of top-four
results from the first three races and will welcome a new co-driver this
weekend.
Certainly not to be overlooked is the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship
Racing Team Porsche Crawford, which claimed its last victory one year
ago at VIR. Co-driving the No. 23 machine will be defending race-winner
Patrick Long and 2006 Daytona Prototype champion Jorg Bergmeister. After
a bit of a rough start to the season, the No. 23 Porsche was one of
the top contenders at Homestead and the team may be poised to turn its
season around this weekend.
Other strong Porsche-powered Daytona Prototypes in this weekend's field
include the No. 39 Crown Royal Special Reserve/Cheever Racing Porsche
Fabcar, the No. 58 Red Bull/Brumos Racing Porsche Riley and the No. 59
Brumos Porsche/Kendall Porsche Riley. The No. 39 machine with co-drivers
Christian Fittipaldi and Harrison Brix has run among the leaders in
both of its races since debuting in Mexico City, while the No. 58 with
co-drivers David Donohue and Darren Law has been plenty fast and just in
need of some racing luck. Meanwhile, JC France and road racing legend
Hurley Haywood have earned two top-five results from their first three
races in the No. 59.
The two-car Michael Shank Racing operation is another team with the
wherewithal to claim victory at any time and features co-drivers Oswaldo
Negri Jr. and Mark Patterson in the team's No. 60 Lexus Riley and Ian
James and Henri Zogaib in the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Lexus Riley.
Likewise, the No. 61 Exchange Traded Gold/AIM Autosport Lexus Riley in
the hands of Mark Wilkins and Brian Frisselle, and the No. 3 Preformed
Line Products/TrueChoice Motorsports Lexus Riley of co-drivers Shane
Lewis and Randy Ruhlman of nearby Greensboro, N.C. could also contend.
This weekend will feature yet another Lexus Riley, as co-drivers Rob
Finlay and Michael Valiante have joined forces with Chip Ganassi
Racing with Felix Sabates to field the No. 19 Z-Line Designs/Mission
Residential/Make-A-Wish Lexus Riley.
Two other teams with local ties also bear close watching this weekend,
as either team could well find their way to Victory Lane. The No.
91 Riley-Matthews Motorsports Pontiac Riley--based in Mooresville,
N.C.--will be shared by co-drivers Jim Matthews and Belgian racer
Marc Goossens, with Chris and Rob Dyson slated to share the No. 16
Thetford/Norcold Porsche Crawford for the Denver, N.C.-based Howard
Motorsports team.
Completing a strong field are past Rolex Series race-winners Tracy
Krohn and Nic Jonsson in the No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley and Memo
Gidley with a co-driver to be announced in the No. 77 Kodak/Feeds The
Need/Doran Racing Ford Doran, and the No. 12 RVO Motorsports Pontiac
Riley to be shared by co-drivers Roger Schramm and Justin Bell.
The VIR 400 for the Daytona Prototypes takes the green flag at 1:00 p.m.
ET on Sunday with live coverage airing on SPEED .
Headlining Saturday's schedule will be the VIR 400 for the GT machines.
No. 70 SpeedSource/Mazdaspeed Mazda RX-8 co-drivers Sylvain Tremblay and
Nick Ham lead the GT championship standings by 17 points, 96-79, over
No. 22 Gatorade/TodayMD.com Porsche GT3 co-drivers Carlos de Quesada and
Jean-Francois Dumoulin.
Tremblay and Ham make their way to VIR riding a two-race class winning
streak and will be looking to make it three-in-a-row this weekend, while
de Quesada and Dumoulin took a prestigious class win in the Rolex 24 At
Daytona to open the year and are looking to continue their momentum this
weekend.
Both teams will be challenged by a host of proven GT front-runners.
Leading the charge are multi-time GT race-winners Kelly Collins and Paul
Edwards in the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R. Collins and
Edwards are part of a two-car operation from Banner Racing with team
owner/driver Leighton Reese and co-driver Tim Lewis Jr. in the team's
No. 06 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R.
Farnbacher Loles Motorsports fields a pair of ultra-fast Porsche GT3s
with co-drivers Dominik Farnbacher and Leh Keen sharing the No. 85 Shoes
for Crews/Recaro machine and Bryce Miller and Dirk Werner slated for the
No. 87 Marquis Jet/IPC/Recaro Porsche. Either one of those cars could
find their way to Victory Circle.
The same can be said for the two-car Tafel Racing entry, with Wolf
Henzler and Eric Lux sharing the team's No. 74 Rembrandt Charms Porsche
GT3 and Andrew Davis and Nathan Swartzbaugh co-driving the No. 72
Tornos/Dunkel Bros Porsche GT3. TRG's four-car entry could also be
tough, with defending GT co-champion Andy Lally sharing the No. 66 F1
Air Porsche GT3 with RJ Valentine, the No. 67 NETTS/Louis Boston Porsche
GT3 of Spencer Pumpelly and Mark Greenberg, the No. 65 Maxwell Paper
Products Co. Porsche of Ross Smith and a co-driver to be named, and the
No. 64 SRS/JLowe Racing Porsche GT3 of Jim Lowe and Jim Pace.
Based at VIR, the Synergy Racing team will field a pair of entries.
Former Virginia Tech football star Steve Johnson will co-drive the No.
81 EMC Mechanical/Gamewell Mechanical Porsche GT3 with Patrick Huisman,
and Maurice Hill is slated to drive the No. 80 Synergy Racing Porsche
GT3. Hill's co-driver has not yet been named.
If the team's success in the 2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series is any
indication, the No. 15 USG Sheetrock/Guardian Insulation Ford Mustang
Cobra GT is another solid contender. KONI Challenge Grand Sport points
leader Tom Nastasi, who has won all three 2007 KONI Challenge Series
events thus far, will be joined once again in the No. 15 Mustang by
Champ Car World Series veteran Alex Tagliani.
The GT field has 28 cars entered for the race, which will take the green
flag at 4:30 p.m. ET. The VIR 400 for GT cars will be televised on SPEED
on a slight tape-delay, airing at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
VIR 400 Fast Facts
Who:
Grand American Road Racing Association
What:
Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special
Reserve
Where:
Virginia International Raceway -- Danville, Va.
When:
Saturday, April 28, 2007 -- 4:30 p.m. ET (Rolex Series GT race)
Sunday, April 29, 2007 -- 1:00 p.m. ET (Rolex Series DP race)
TV: SPEED, Live, 1:00 p.m. ET Sunday (GT race Tape Delay, 8:30 p.m. ET
Saturday)
Schedule of Events:
(All times local, Eastern Time)
Friday, April 27 -- TEST DAY
Saturday, April 28
10:30 AM -- 11:15 AM Practice -- Rolex Series GT
11:30 AM -- 12:15 PM Practice -- Rolex Series DP
12:45 PM -- 1:30 PM Practice -- Rolex Series GT
1:30 PM -- 2:15 PM Practice -- Rolex Series DP
2:20 PM -- 2:35 PM Qualifying -- Rolex Series GT
2:40 PM -- 2:55 PM Qualifying -- Rolex Series DP
3:00 PM -- 3:45 PM Autograph Session -- Rolex GT Drivers
3:25 PM -- 4:15 PM Autograph Session -- Rolex DP Drivers
4:15 PM Recon Laps -- Rolex Series GT
4:30 PM START -- Rolex Series GT race (400k/77-laps/2-hour 30-minute
time limit)
Sunday, April 29
8:30 AM -- 8:45 AM Final Practice -- Rolex Series DP
12:45 PM Recon Laps -- Rolex Series DP
1:00 PM START -- Rolex Series DP race (400k/77-laps/2-hour 30-minute
time limit)
-credit: garra
