Daytona Beach, FL: As the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 heads into Round 8 of the 2010 season, the series is getting set for a celebration, as the upcoming Brumos Porsche 250 marks the 100th race in Daytona Prototype class competition. The Spirit of Daytona team, part of GRAND-AM from the very beginning, is marking an achievement of its own at the Daytona race. One year ago at the Brumos Porsche 250, the team debuted the new #90 Spirit of Daytona car, featuring a Porsche-based V-8 by Lozano Brothers Porting in the new generation Coyote chassis. That race was also the debut of former Rolex 24 champions Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia in their new roles as full-time Spirit of Daytona drivers. Running a limited schedule for the rest of the 2009 season following the Daytona race, the team focused on developing a competitive car in preparation for 2010.
Now, one year later, it is obvious that the team is on the right track. Spirit of Daytona is heading back to their home track with strong momentum, following back-to-back top five finishes in their last two races and their first DP podium. They have also scored a top ten finish in last consecutive six races out of seven held this season. The #90 has proven itself capable of keeping pace with the frontrunners, as demonstrated by Antonio Garcia, who has twice qualified in 2nd position, narrowly missing the pole on both occasions. The accomplishments are even more impressive when you consider that the Spirit of Daytona is the only team currently competing in a Coyote.
Buddy Rice reflected on the added challenge this creates for the team, saying, “I think that’s a big consideration for us. Almost everyone else is running a Riley and can share information to some degree. Most teams have been running them for a long time, so there’s a lot of information out there. For us, it’s a bit tougher. It would be great to see another Coyote in the series and to have someone else gaining knowledge and speeding up the progress. Anytime you can add information and more parties in the development process it’s a positive. If we did have other Coyotes running in this series, I think you would see the development of the car speed up exponentially. We just have to keep working to show that how competitive the Coyote really is. We are going to have some tough runs coming up in these next few rounds but we’ll work hard to keep our program up in the top five. The Spirit of Daytona team deserves a lot of credit. They are meeting the challenge and making the car better - we are seeing improvement every weekend.”
As the 100th race approaches, there are many reasons to expect a particularly memorable event at the July Daytona race. In addition to the team and series milestones, this race is one for the history books for another reason. This weekend’s activities will mark the final competition held this season at Daytona International Speedway, as the track gets set for repaving. The track will be closed for the major renovation project, re-opening for January’s Rolex 24 activities in 2011. It would be hard to imagine a more fitting end to the 2010 Daytona race season than to see their hometown team score a victory, and the Spirit of Daytona team will be doing their best to make that goal a reality.
The Brumos Porsche 250 will be held on Saturday, July 3rd at Daytona International Speedway. The 2.5 hour race will start at 11:00 AM ET, and will be broadcast by tape delay on SPEED TV with coverage beginning at 1:00 PM ET.
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