2012 Grand Am Series (Rolex)

[85t5mcss]

All things Grand Am Series in 2012. Started off with the Daytona 24 Hour Race.

[twomanymontes]

Ford Continues to Make History in 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona
Feb. 2, 2012



Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby won the first 24-hour race at Daytona co-driving a Ford Mk II. That 1966 winner was on display (although carrying a different paint scheme) at the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona.


There was plenty of nostalgia at Daytona International Speedway for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The Ford Mk II that won Daytona’s first 24-hour race in 1966 greeted the guests at the Champions Club, and a Michael Shank Racing No. 60 Liveon.com Ford/Riley was the centerpiece in the post-race celebrations in Gatorade Victory Lane.

In a race for the ages, AJ Allmendinger, John Pew, Ozz Negri and Justin Wilson drove to victory in the golden anniversary race, leading a milestone podium sweep for Ford’s blue oval.

Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio, Alex Popow, Lucas Luhr and Allan McNish placed second in the Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley, while Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr, Jorge Goncalvez and Gustavo Yacaman took third in Shank’s No. 6 Ford/Riley.

It was Ford’s fifth victory in the Rolex 24 and third podium sweep.

Ford’s first milestone in the Rolex 24 came in 1965, at the height of the Ford vs. Ferrari war for international sports car racing superiority. Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby drove a Ford GT40 to victory, with Fords sweeping the top four positions in the 2,000-kilometer event.

Miles and Ruby returned with a new Ford Mk II in 1966 as the Daytona event was extended to 24 hours for the first time. Again, Fords swept the podium, with Dan Gurney on the second-place car and Mark Donohue finishing third. The victory set the stage for Ford’s historic 1-2-3 staged photo finish in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ford also scored overall victories in the 1997 and 1999 Rolex 24 for Dyson Racing, with Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace anchoring the lineups both years in Ford-powered Riley & Scott Mk IIIs.

The Rolex 24 At Daytona also marked another milestone for Ford in Daytona Prototype competition. A Ford-powered Multimatic/Ford Focus was the class winner in the debut of GRAND-AM’s premier class in 2003, when Scott Maxwell, David Empringham and David Brabham were DP winners.

The 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 marked the first race for the new generation DP chassis, with the first and second place finishers driving the new Riley DPG3 while a second-generation Riley rounded out the podium.

Ford had its share of memorable class victories over the years.

Jack Roush won his GT class in the Rolex 24 in 10 straight attempts between 1985 through 1995 (he did not compete in 1994), using Ford and Lincoln-Mercury products. Paul Newman drove to victory in the latter event, joined by Mark Martin, Mike Brockman and Tommy Kendall – who was in the SPEED broadcast booth for Sunday’s event.

Ford also took honors in the lone running of the GT International class in 1966, when NASCAR stock cars were eligible for the Rolex 24. NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson anchored the driver lineup, joined by his son, Larry Pearson, along with Gary and Jim Bowsher.

[twomanymontes]

The Schedule for the rest of the season with the TV coverage


March 30 - 31 PORSCHE 250
Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, Al. TV 3/31, 4:00 PM ET, SPEED

April 27 - 29 Grand Prix of Miami
Homestead Miami Speedway
Homestead, FL. TV 4/29, 1:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

May 11 - 13 New Jersey Motorsports Park
New Jersey Motorsports Park
Millville, NJ. TV 5/13, 1:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

June 1 - 2 Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200
Belle Isle Park
Detroit, MI. TV 6/2, 5:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

June 8 - 9 Mid-Ohio
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Lexington, OH. TV 6/9, 4:30 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

June 22 - 23 Road America
Road America
Elkhart Lake, WI. TV 6/23, 12:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

June 29 - July 1 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen
Watkins Glen International - Long Course
Watkins Glen, NY. TV 7/1, 11:00 AM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

July 5 - 6 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Test
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, IN. TV TBA

July 27 Super Weekend at The Brickyard
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, IN.TV 7/27, 4:30 PM ET, SPEED

August 10 - 11 Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen International - Short Course
Watkins Glen, NY. TV 8/11, 6:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

August 17 - 18 Circuit Gilles Villenueve
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Montreal, Quebec. TV 8/18, 7:00 PM ET, SPEED

September 7 - 9 Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Salinas, CA. TV 9/9, 3:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

September 28 - 29 Lime Rock Park
Lime Rock Park
Lakeville, CT. TV 9/29, 3:00 PM ET, SPEED (LIVE!)

[twomanymontes]

The second round of the Rolex Sports Car Series takes competitors to the 2.3 mile, 17-turn road course in Birmingham, Ala. Tune in to at 4:00 PM ET for coverage of the Porsche 250 from Barber Motorsports Park.



John Pew and Ozz Negri had an amazing performance at the Rolex 24 and look to improve upon their 6th place finish from last year's Porsche 250. However, 2011 champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas are looking to defend last year's victory at Barber Motorsports Park.



Defending GT class winners Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana got off to a rocky start at the Rolex 24 but look to get back in victory lane Saturday.



Don't forget to check out live timing and scoring from your computer or mobile device by logging on to m.grand-am.com.




I'll miss the first 2 hours, But I hope to catch the end.

[twomanymontes]

Well, I managed to catch the last lap! The #90 Spirit of Daytona taking the win from the pole, That was cool to see a Chevy Corvette in the winner's circle! and The #70 Mazda Speed Mazda RX-8 took the GT class.

[twomanymontes]

I watched some of the highlights on SPEED, Looked like a pretty good race. Felt bad for Dempsey getting spun around by Ricky Taylor early on, but thats what you get for cutting across a faster car's nose! Also the Michael Shank #60 diving to the grass to avoid hitting one fo the Sahlen's Mazdas and being stopped dead by the grass, that was a hard hit, glad there wasn't any real damage.

[twomanymontes]

Sunday at 12 to 2PM Continential Tire Challage from Barber Motorsports park.

[85t5mcss]

Wonder if mom will let me watch racing all day. Easter dinner at mom's.

[twomanymontes]

LOL! Yeah I kind of took over the remote when I got to Mom's myself. Forunately, My brother in Law is an Aussie so I had back up.

[85t5mcss]

Saw some MotoGP where Stoner won. Didnt see any GrandAm racing.

[twomanymontes]

I watched the Continential Tire Challange. Decent racing, but not the speeds or the skill of the big boys.

[twomanymontes]

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Extreme Speed Motorsports is heading home to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Miami, when the team fields the No. 03 Tequila Patron Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am for its second Rolex Series race of the season.



Guy Cosmo and Ed Brown will drive for the team, which is based in nearby Stuart.

Extreme Speed Motorsports made its GRAND-AM debut in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, finishing 13th in the GT class and 24th overall.

“Guy knows Homestead like the back of his hand, and Ed has driven at Homestead three or four years ago,” said team owner Scott Sharp. “Homestead is another home race for us, and I think it will be an exciting race.”

ESM is looking to give the new Ferrari its first Rolex Series victory. Sharp was encouraged by the performance of the new car at the recent Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park, when Emil Assentato and Jeff Segal finished second in the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari.

“To see how Jeff Segal and his team did with the Ferrari at Alabama, hopefully we should be really competitive at Homestead,” Sharp said.

Cosmo made his GRAND-AM debut at the 2003 Rolex 24 At Daytona, when he co-drove a Daytona Prototype with a team that included Ozz Negri. He finished 13th in the 2008 Grand Prix of Miami – driving the Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche/Coyote – in addition to running in the Kia 200 for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge four times.

“We’re excited to do another GRAND-AM race,” Cosmo said. “I think everybody really enjoyed running Daytona. Obviously our team has developed a really strong, technical program. We haven’t run this car much and I don’t think we run it at all since the Daytona race. We’re looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. GRAND-AM is a lot of fun to run in. The AIM Autosport team has been doing really well and has been competitive with their FXDD Ferrari. We’re probably going to be playing a little bit of catch-up compared to everyone else in the GT class there because we really haven’t been in that Ferrari race car much this season, so far. We know that we have a competitive car and we’re just looking forward to the race.”

Brown has one career race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but quickly learned it was quite a different facility than Daytona.

“It has been a few years since I raced at Homestead, but I’m looking forward to getting back in the Tequila Patrón GRAND-AM Ferrari,” Brown said. “My first race at Homestead was probably right after I first started racing. It was in someone’s borrowed Porsche GT Cup car. I like it there and I think the funny thing with me at Homestead was that I just came back from Daytona and the banking at Daytona was flat-out – 100 percent throttle. Nobody really told me that the banking at Homestead wasn’t flat-out in a Cup car. I got to the track and almost took it into the wall but I got used to it pretty quick.”

“We’d like to win but at the very least, get a podium in Homestead,” Brown said. “We really do think the 458 should be good there. The GRAND AM Ferrari seems to like particular race tracks and that bodes well for the high-speed cornering and braking, the two key things you need at Homestead.”

[twomanymontes]

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – SunTrust Racing team owner Wayne Taylor has shaken up his qualifying plans.
For the first time in a GRAND-AM Rolex Series sprint race, Max Angelelli will qualify the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, while Ricky Taylor will be the finishing driver for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Miami.



Taylor said the pair will then alternate starting and finishing roles throughout the remainder of the season.

Last year, Angelelli and the younger Taylor led a race-high 47 of 116 laps last season en route to SunTrust’s first podium finish at the track since 2007. While the 2.3-mile, 11-turn speedway road course layout at Homestead has not been particularly kind to the SunTrust team in recent years, Angelelli and Wayne Taylor co-drove to a dominating victory en route to the 2005 Rolex Series title for SunTrust, along with runner-up finishes in 2004 and 2007.

After a devastating 14th-place at the season-opening 50th Rolex 24 At Daytona, Angelelli and Ricky Taylor rebounded with a solid fifth-place finish at last month’s Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. – the team’s best finish in five years at the scenic permanent road circuit and one that helped the SunTrust team take a huge leap from 14th to ninth in the point standings with 11 races remaining.

Angelelli and Taylor find themselves 17 points behind the points-leading No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford Riley tandem of Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio, and 12 points behind the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates TELMEX BMW/Riley duo of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, who won the last two championships over the runner-up SunTrust team in 2010 and 2011.

Angelelli and Taylor have proven they are capable of mounting a hot streak, which is precisely what they did over the final two-thirds of the 2011 season. Beginning with their Memorial Day victory at Lime Rock, they won three times in all, started on the front row for eight consecutive races (including a near-series-record six consecutive poles by Taylor), finished on the podium seven consecutive times, and led almost 60 percent of all laps contested (514 of 897) over that span.

At last June’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, Taylor proved to be a prolific closer in his own right when he performed flawlessly over the final two hours of the race in holding off the veteran and four-time series champion Pruett for the SunTrust team’s second of three victories in 2011. This weekend, Taylor hopes to resurrect that magical performance from last June.

“It’s extra pressure, for sure,” Taylor said. “I won’t be able to make any mistakes and just trust Max to get in and make up for it. I’m really looking forward to it. I hope I can do a good enough job. I’m excited. It’s a nice responsibility. Max and my dad have been talking to me about finishing the races for some time. Last year’s Watkins Glen race was the first step, just to get my feet wet. It was a great place to do that, knowing the SunTrust car would be good, that it would be a good race for us, so it was a good first taste of being the closer. In the back of their minds, I think this was kind of their plan all along.”

Practice for Sunday’s 2-hour, 45-minute Grand Prix of Miami begins Friday morning with qualifying set for Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET. Race time Sunday is 1 p.m. with SPEED carrying the television broadcast live. Live radio by the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 117 begins with a 15-minute pre-race show at 12:45 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com/laptrax.

[twomanymontes]

Franklin, Tenn., April 19, 2012 – The all-wheel drive, 545 horsepower Nissan GT-R supercar will pace the field as the official safety car for the GRAND-AM Rolex Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway April 29.



The red 2013 GT-R Black Edition needs no modifications for its duties, with its hand-assembled 3.8 liter twin turbo powerplant rated at 545 horsepower and 463 lb-ft of torque providing plenty of muscle for street or track.

This is Nissan’s first year racing in GRAND-AM with 370Z and Altima Coupe teams running in the Continental Tire Challenge Sports Car Challenge. Providing the new 2013 Nissan GT-R to serve as official safety car for the Grand Prix of Miami shows Nissan’s commitment to sports and performance cars - on and off the track.

“Nissan is proud to be a part of GRAND-AM Road Racing, and we are delighted with the opportunity to have our fastest production car pacing an outstanding field that includes many of the world’s fastest GT drivers,” said Ron Stukenberg, Nissan Sr. Manager of North American Motorsports.

Nissan’s competition history runs deep with more than 100 U.S. racing championships spanning nearly half a century. For more information about Nissan Performance Products, Nissan Performance Parts and the NISMO brand, visit The Nissan Performance site on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/NissanPerformance and the NISMO site at www.nissanusa.com/nismo/.


I think it's a neat looking car, Boring paint, but it might be something to look for in the Rolex series in the next few years.

[twomanymontes]

Todays Race was as good as it could get. Rained hard and they still raced. It was cut short due to low visability. Ricky Taylor took the win in the DP class for Suntrust Racing. And the FXDD Ferrari took the win in the GT class for the first time since 2003.

[twomanymontes]

In special coordination with New Jersey Motorsports Park, Magnus Racing arrived at the track with a special surprise livery – an all-pink No. 44 Porsche in honor of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Central and South Jersey.



Magnus Racing is among several teams showing support for the cause espoused by the presenting sponsor of the Global Barter 250 presented by Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Stevenson Motorsports will add pink to its traditional red, white and blue scheme on the No. 57 Camaro, while BimmerWorld has added pink stripes to its No. 80 BMW for Saturday's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race.

In addition, many of the teams will carry special pink decals during the event weekend.

Komen Central and South Jersey, an affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is committed to increasing screening mammography in order to save lives through early breast cancer detection. Twenty-five percent of the affiliate proceeds support innovative national breast cancer research programs while the remaining 75 percent supports local programs.

Serving 13 counties in New Jersey - Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem, and Somerset - the affiliate will reach 100,000 women this year with breast cancer education and screening programs.

With the parent foundation having a long history of receiving "pink" support in racing, Magnus Racing decided to do its part by transforming the traditional grey and white livery to pink and white. Ironically, it was at New Jersey Motorsports Park one year ago where the team made the transition from their original green livery to grey.

"We really enjoy taking an active role in the GRAND-AM community and this is a great cause for our team to get behind," said team owner John Potter. "Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a great organization with a strong and powerful heritage, and it's an honor that we can be a part of it. To be honest, the car actually looks pretty awesome in pink. It seems like all of our best ideas show up at this track."

In addition to the livery, Magnus Racing will also be involved in other weekend activities for the foundation. Providing everything from honorary pit crew experiences for auction winners to auctioning off opportunities to sign the car before it goes out to race, Magnus Racing is excited to take a lead role in the weekend.

"Our team has developed a strong relationship with New Jersey Motorsports Park over the years, and I'm happy to continue that bond," Potter said. "It seems like we run some sort of big event here every year, so it's nice to keep to our tradition."

For Magnus Racing co-driver Andy Lally, who grew up only two hours away in Long Island, New York, this weekend's program adds the perfect complement to his pursuit of his 100th GRAND-AM podium.

"In all my years in racing, I've never driven a pink car before," stated Lally. "It's actually really cool, and honestly very humbling to get to work with an organization like this. Our team can't work any harder than we already are, but this definitely provides extra motivation."

Stevenson Motorsports will have a new look for the No. 57 Camaro driven by Robin Liddell and John Edwards, which will be pink, white and blue for this event.

"Breast cancer is a disease that knows no gender and has no respect for age or race or any other consideration that tends to keep people from celebrating one another," said Stevenson Motorsports team manager Mike Johnson. "It attacks you from the inside and it can take away your freedom to live without pain and suffering.

"The efforts – the struggle to beat cancer – that the Susan G. Komen organization puts forth," Johnson continued, "can be, in a very abstract way, viewed as a parallel to what we try to do on the race track at every race. We want to beat the rest of the field to the finish line. The Komen foundation races every day to beat cancer. We want to help them win the fight.

"We are going to do pink numbers on the doors, the nose and the trunk." Johnson said, "We are going to change the red on the hockey stripes to pink and add pink ribbons to the crew helmets."

Team owners John and Susan Stevenson are proud to be a part of an event that raises awareness and drives to collect donations that go towards research for a cure.

"Breast cancer has certainly touched my family and I am happy to report that they are survivors due to early detection," said Susan Stevenson. "The SGK foundation has done so much over the years to raise awareness of this disease. They offer the promise of hope and life for so many that have been diagnosed with this dreadful disease."

The No. 57 Camaro will also display the names of relatives and friends of the team whose lives have been impacted by breast cancer.

Susan G. Komen's Central and South Jersey Affiliate also sponsored an on-line charity auction for opportunities to wave the green flag or to participate in VIP experiences with several of the leading Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge teams. Michael Shank Racing, SunTrust Racing, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, Magnus Racing and APR Motorsport donated pit crew experiences for the Rolex Series race, while Stevenson Motorsports, BimmerWorld Racing, Turner Motorsport, Roush Performance and Fall-Line Racing invited fans to join their crew for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race.

[twomanymontes]

Hometown guys are moving up the ladder



Team Sahlen came up one position short of its first Rolex Series GT victory in the recent Grand Prix of Miami, when Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamaker's No. 42 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 finished behind only the Ferrari of Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato.

That's the third time in less than a year that the team finished second. Last year, Nonnamaker and John Edwards were runners-up at both Road America and New Jersey Motorsports Park.

This weekend's Global Barter 250 presented by Susan G. Komen for the Cure is an excellent opportunity for the Ohio-based team to step up to the top of the podium. Last year, Edwards captured the pole and led six laps, while Nonnamaker led 28 circuits. In addition, Cameron –driving the No. 41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 – led four laps en route to finishing third with James Gue.

"We're very excited to get back to the great facility in New Jersey," Nonnamaker said. "It's a very Mazda-friendly track, with Mazdas sweeping the podium the last two years. We're on a streak of three podium finishes in the last nine races, and we'd love to take our first GT victory."

"Miami was really a testament to the hard work of the crew," Nonnamaker added. "We came in for what proved to be the last round of pit stops in 10th place, and the crew got us out in second."

Nonnamaker and Cameron are currently seventh in the GT championship, while Nonnamaker leads the standings for the Bob Akin Award as the top Pro-Am driver in the GT class. He has 1,051 points, 55 more than Assentato and John Potter, in a bid to be the first back-to-back winner of the Bob Akin Award.

The team will also enter the No. 43 Mazda for Joe and Will Nonnamaker – Wayne's father and older brother. Joe is celebrating his 40th anniversary in racing in a career that dates back to running solo events in parking lots in 1972 behind the wheel of a Corvette. Will won the first Bob Akin Award in 2005.
While Team Sahlen has yet to win in GT, the organization has a solid track record in GRAND-AM competition. The team has competed in the Rolex Series since 2003, with Wayne Nonnamaker winning a pair of SGS races from the pole in solo drives in 2004.

Although competing under different banners, the team won four straight titles in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition from 2001 through 2004: 2001, C2K (Will Nonnamaker, Planet Earth Motorsports); 2002, ST II (Will and Wayne Nonnamaker, HRPworld.com); 2003, GS II (Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker, Planet Earth Motorsports); and 2004 (Craig Stanton, TheRaceSite.com Racing).

[twomanymontes]

Race Starts at 1 on SPEED Tomorrow!!! I can't wait!

[twomanymontes]

Scott Pruett has fond memories of racing in Detroit – both at the original street course near the Renaissance Center and the current Raceway at Belle Isle Park.



“Belle Isle was real big for me,” Pruett said. “I won my first CART pole position there back in 1996. I also had some big races downtown, winning for Jack Roush in 1987.”

Pruett tangled with Willy T. Ribbs on the last lap while fighting for the lead in 1988. Hurley Haywood went on to win, with Pruett finishing second.

Pruett also finished second in the 1989 CART event – his career best in open wheel racing at the time – and took third in the 1995 race at Belle Isle. He recorded five top-10 CART finishes on the Detroit circuits.

The Californian also had his best open wheel moment in the Wolverine State, winning the 1995 Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway.

This weekend, Pruett is looking for another strong race in Michigan to get back into the battle for the 2012 Daytona Prototype championship. He and Memo Rojas – looking for their fourth title in five years co-driving the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley, entered the recent race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Midway through the event, Pruett tangled with Alex Gurney while battling for second, with the resulting 10th-place finish dropping the TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates duo from first to sixth in the DP standings – nine points behind the leaders.

Entering Detroit, it’s been seven races since the Ganassi duo last won – tying the second longest stretch without a victory since Pruett and Rojas teamed up in 2007.

[twomanymontes]

This is cool!!

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 31, 2012) – Responding to burgeoning interest from a variety of manufacturers, GRAND-AM Road Racing today announced plans to add a third class to compete in the Rolex Sports Car Series, beginning with the 2013 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The new class, to be called "GX," will join the series' headlining Daytona Prototype (DP) and the production-based Grand Touring (GT) classes. The models – and some manufacturers – will be unique to GX.

The production-based GX competition will feature cars and technologies not currently involved in the Rolex Series. Rules are being developed to allow for the exploration of a wide variety of alternative technologies and alternative fuels. This could include turbocharged engines; fuels other than gasoline, such as clean diesels; and hybrid powertrains.

The class will be developed with performance levels that complement the current DP and GT classes. No changes to GT performance levels are expected.

Announcements regarding specific manufacturer participation in GX competition are expected in the near future.

"A number of OEMs have expressed their desire to field cars that wouldn't fit within our current two-class structure, so it makes good sense for us to find a way to accommodate those desires and in the process make something that's already great – the Rolex Series – even better," said GRAND-AM President and CEO Ed Bennett.

"When there are manufacturers looking to compete, we need to find a model that works to include them in the Rolex Series. It's good for the fans, providing another whole group of exciting cars they can relate to. And the fact that the GX class will get to debut at the Rolex 24 just adds to the anticipation and excitement."

[twomanymontes]

The 2012 Rolex Series season continues Saturday with the Chevrolet GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle, presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers – part of the overall Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend. The 5 p.m. (ET) race will be broadcast live by SPEED and MRN.

[twomanymontes]

The list of GT contenders for next Saturday’s Chevrolet GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle expanded with the addition of the No. 03 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am. Drivers Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek will race the No. 03 Tequila Patron Ferrari in its third appearance of the season.



Sharp is a two-time winner at Detroit, winning SCCA Trans-Am races in 1990 and 1991 on the original downtown circuit. He also won the 1996 Rolex 24 At Daytona, the year he was co-champion of the IRL’s inaugural season.

Van Overbeek was the 2007 Porsche Cup winner, awarded to the world’s top independent Porsche driver.

Joined by Ed Brown and Guy Cosmo, Sharp and van Overbeek finished 11th in the debut of their new Ferrari in this year's Rolex 24 At Daytona. Brown and Cosmo co-drove in the Grand Prix of Miami near the team’s headquarters in Stuart, Fla., finishing 13th after leading the charts in practice.

“The car ran very reliably and the things that jinxed us were really outside of our control,” Sharp said following the Rolex 24. “Derek (Granison, team manager) came up to me at the end of the day and said he had never been involved with a team that never put a wheel off the road for the entire 24 hours.”

Extreme Speed Motorsports also plans to compete in the upcoming Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International on July 1.

[twomanymontes]

One of the highlights of Joe Nonnamaker's 40th anniversary season will be next weekend, when he returns to the Detroit Grand Prix 28 years after his initial competition at the Motown circuit.


"I first raced at Detroit back in 1984 at the original downtown Grand Prix circuit," Nonnamaker said. "I was competing in the Champion Spark Plug Challenge Racing Sedan Series. That was very exciting as the series was supporting the Formula One race."

Nonnamaker had a brand-new Nissan Stanza that had taken him more than a year to build, deciding to debut the car on the intimidating street circuit.

"Like any crazy, insane racer, I choose to debut the car at Detroit," Nonnamaker said. "As you could imagine, the race did not go so well for us with tons of teething problems with a rookie car.
It was very interesting as the series was paddocked next to Cobo Hall arena where the Detroit Red Wings play. To even get to the track, we had to drive our cars down a side street, and go out onto the track at turn 7 or so. Then we would drive down to the pits."

Nonnamaker's racing history in the Detroit area dates back before his first Grand Prix.

"I went to my first driver's school at the Waterford Road Course, just outside of Detroit, in 1974," he said. "Now to be coming back 28 years later to race at the Belle Isle circuit is very special. From what I have seen, the setting for the event is very open and accessible for the fans, just like Montreal is. Hopefully, both Team Sahlen Mazda RX-8s can put on a good show for the Mazdafanatics in the Rolex Series GT class."

Nonnamaker will co-drive the No. 43 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 with his son Will. The team's No. 42 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 will have his other son Wayne Nonnamaker partnering with Dane Cameron, who are currently seventh in the Rolex Series GT standings.

Team Sahlen is on quite a roll in the Rolex series for 2012. For the four events to date, the team has led in three of those events, including a second-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The week following the Detroit event will be another homecoming for the Nonnamaker clan, when the Rolex Series competes in the EMCO Gears Classic in Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, not far from the Nonnamakers' homes in the Canton, Ohio area.

[85t5mcss]

More cars? Sweet. I would still like to see a GT1 and GT2 return. The food ole days of DP1 and DP2 and GT1 and GT2. Poor economy sucks. Daytona 24 used to have a much larger field.

[twomanymontes]

Wasn't one of the DP groups open thingypit??

GT2 I think was converted to the Continential tire challange series.

Yes, The economy has really put racing behind. But then again, it has also put limits of the amount of money spent, the cars are much more equal, it's become more of a driver/mechanics race now.