HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 26, 2008) -- Like the sunrise signals
the dawning of a brand new day, a bold, new paint scheme and a
new-from-the-ground-up race car ushers in a new era for SunTrust Racing
and drivers Max Angelelli and Michael Valiante as they head to Homestead
(Fla.) Miami Speedway for Saturday's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Gainsco Grand Prix of Miami.
With this weekend's highly anticipated debut of the all-new Dallara
DP-01 prototype -- an intensive project that has been a collaborative
effort between legendary race car manufacturer Dallara Automobili Spa
of Parma, Italy, and Indianapolis-based Wayne Taylor Racing for most
of the past year -- SunTrust dipped into a few different shades on its
corporate color pallet to create a stunning, orange- and tangerine-based
paint scheme for the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac, featuring the
company's trademark sunray logo effect on the side pods. The familiar
SunTrust blue from the previous paint scheme also remains prominent on
the race car's cockpit rooftop.
SunTrust and Wayne Taylor Racing are banking on the all-new Dallara to
continue the program's championship form in the Rolex Series. In its
previous 53 races since joining the series in 2004, SunTrust campaigned
a Pontiac-powered Riley chassis to 11 victories, 30 podium finishes,
six pole positions and the 2005 series championship at the hands of
co-drivers Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, who formed the team that bears
his name in November of 2006. SunTrust has never finished outside the
top-three in the season-ending team championship since joining the
series and looks to take major strides toward capturing its second
championship as the Dallara factory effort in the midst of a dozen
Rileys entered in Saturday's Gainsco Grand Prix of Miami.
Angelelli, who began a longtime relationship with the Dallara factory
in 1989, when he was Rookie of the Year in the Italian F3 Championship,
is certainly excited about driving the company's first Rolex Series
product. Valiante, his new full-time co-driver, gets to play a prominent
role in bringing an all-new race car into the world on the heels of
becoming a father for the first time. Valiante and his wife, Nicola,
welcomed the arrival of a new son, Massimo Claudio Valiante, into the
world on March 11.
Practice for Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami begins Thursday afternoon
with Daytona Prototype-class qualifying set for 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday.
Saturday's 250-mile (or 2-hour, 45-minute) race begins at 3 p.m. with
SPEED-TV's delayed broadcast beginning at 6 p.m. The detailed event
schedule, as well as live timing and scoring during all on-track
sessions, can be found at www.grand-am.com.
Max Angelelli, co-driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing
Pontiac Dallara:
This has got to be one of the most exciting times in your racing career
as you were heavily involved, along with Wayne Taylor, in bringing this
Dallara program to the Rolex Series. What's on your mind as you're about
to debut the new car?
"Going to Homestead this week will finally show evidence of the job
that has been done in the last 12 months between Dallara and Wayne
Taylor Racing. I will have the pleasure of driving the first Dallara in
the Grand-Am series. I am especially excited because this deal seemed
like such a long and involved process. Once we took delivery of the
car, it was the entire Wayne Taylor Racing organization that made it
possible to be at the track this week. Remember that Wayne and I made
the arrangements with Dallara, which started a year ago. But since
then, it was up to the Wayne Taylor Racing people -- our engineers
and mechanics, technical director Travis Jacobson, team manager Simon
Hodgson -- they are the ones who deserve all the credit for making this
happen because of the unbelievable amount of work that had to be done.
I don't know how they did it. My task is to make them proud -- our
mechanics, our guys who work on the car with their hands. I want to make
them proud. And then, I would like to be able to give a lot of success
to Dallara, personally, because I have a long relationship with them
dating back to 1989 when I joined the Italian Formula 3 Championship."
Based on what you experienced at the shakedown and initial test at
Kershaw, S.C., earlier this month, what are your expectations for this
weekend?
"My expectations always are very high. I'm very optimistic right now.
From the test at Kershaw, it's difficult to really know how we will do
against everybody else because it's a track where we don't go racing,
and no other cars were there with us. So we can't say for sure until we
are out on the track with everybody else in race weekend conditions.
The only thing I know for sure is all of our competitors should be
very well-prepared because they tested at Homestead at the end of
February. We must match them through our preparation of this new car.
When it comes to speed on the race track, we will have to rely on our
preparation and we must be confident that speed will come from various
avenues as a result of our preparation. Don't forget that SunTrust
Racing has always had a very strong history at pretty much all the
tracks. I would put SunTrust Racing right alongside the Ganassi team in
terms of results and history and the ability to prepare our race cars.
Obviously, we're making a huge change with this new car, but that is
because we want to get better, not worse."
How would you describe the new Dallara compared to other cars you've
driven?
"It is a mix of new concepts and very old concepts. That is really
nice because Grand-Am racing is all about that sort of mix. All of the
aerodynamic knowledge that Dallara has, combined with huge restrictions
created by the rules, adds up to a huge challenge for Dallara, the
company. They have the super high technology, and they've only built
carbon fiber chassis, and now they're competing with a tube-framed
chassis for the first time against five other car manufacturers. I'm
very pleased with what they've done, so far. They consider this a great
exercise for their engineers. They have a great record for success in
many other formulas, and this is a whole new challenge for them with
the tube frame, racing against different car manufacturers, different
engines, all sorts of driving styles and levels of experience. I'm
confident that they are up to the challenge."
Quotes from Michael Valiante, co-driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing
Pontiac Dallara:
What was your initial impression of the new Dallara during the shakedown
and test earlier this month, and what are your feelings for its first
race weekend at Homestead?
"The test went really well. I think everybody was pleased with the car.
It handled really well. But any time you bring out a new car, it's a
challenge to get it up to speed in such a short amount of time. I don't
believe there's any reason we shouldn't have a shot at winning this
race. Definitely, we're going to have to work really hard to make up
for some of the lost time we didn't have to totally develop the car to
its full potential. To be honest, the car has a nice balance, overall,
especially in the fast corners. At the test, the main things we focused
on were the teething problems, a lot of those things that creep up that
you don't want to happen during a race weekend. So, more than sheer,
outright speed, the things we worked on were just to make sure that
everything is reliable and working properly. Still, we were able to do
some really quick (lap) times. Any time you can bring out a new car and
it's on pace right away, that's really a good sign."
Do you think Homestead is a good place to show up with a brand new race
car?
"I don't think it really matters where we would go on the circuit. Every
track presents its own challenges. We'll just have to make sure we
tailor the car to the Homestead track and get everything right for the
conditions because we didn't test there with everybody else in February.
I figure we'll be a little bit behind at the start of the weekend. But
we've got a great engineering staff and crew, so I'm confident we can
sort it out. The track is just really low on grip. It'll be a matter of
finding the grip we'll need to give us really good balance coming off
the high-speed corners and coming off the oval onto the road course. I
really enjoy Homestead. It's a challenging track. I'm looking forward to
going there."
Wayne Taylor, owner of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac
Dallara team:
To say the last year has been a busy one for you and the team might be
quite an understatement. How does it feel to finally be introducing the
new Dallara and the new SunTrust paint scheme at Homestead this weekend?
"Basically, for the last year, it's been fraught with a tremendous
amount of things to do, from putting together and running the two-car
effort at Daytona, and at the same time preparing the new Dallara,
working with SunTrust on the color scheme of the new car, then testing
the new car at Kershaw. Once this weekend is behind us, I'm looking
forward to returning to normalcy. But this weekend really sets the stage
for an exciting future for SunTrust Racing. I'll say I'm cautiously
optimistic as I'd like to manage expectations. I'm not worried about
the competitiveness of the new car. I might be just a little worried
about the fact it's a brand new car, and with the limited amount of time
we've had to run the car, that we might encounter some little problem
during its first race. But we've got what we've got and the guys have
done an outstanding job of preparing the car. From that perspective, I
feel pretty good. When we got the car, we had tons to do, like designing
of the wiring looms and the various other things. It was very much a
joint effort between Dallara and Wayne Taylor Racing to get this first
car running. I think both sides have done an enormous amount of work. I
can't tell you the amount of hours our guys have put in to get this car
ready for this race, and their tremendous attention to detail. I think
once everybody sees the car, everyone will realize the amount of work
that's gone on."
Can you point out any features on the new Dallara prototype that might
yield your best results, yet, on the race track?
"The rules are pretty tight, so there's really not much a new
constructor can change. The biggest advantage, I feel, is that the new
car represents our close relationship with Dallara as their works team.
Their attention will be around us rather than us just being another
customer. For me, if you want to win, you've got to surround yourself
with the best, and you don't just want to be a customer. That only means
great things for SunTrust Racing and Dallara as we move forward."
-credit: str
