2013 Grand Am season

[twomanymontes]

It's starts TODAY!!!! ;D

So far the race rocks!!! Lots of wheel to wheel action, a few spins and a few Porches just falling apart.

The Corvettes look awesome this year, and Team Sahlen is doing really well considering thats a whole new set up.

[twomanymontes]

That was an amazing race!!! Felt really bad that Team Sahlen had problems. Wayne Taylor Racing was really strong running, but Gnassis' 01 was pretty much dominating all race and took the overall win. Wayne Taylor racing came in 2nd and Michael Shank Racing finished 3rd
The GT class was very competitive as well. With Audi, Ferrari and Porche holding on to the lead for most of the race. Filipe Albuquerque drove the No. 24 Alex Job Racing WeatherTech Audi R8 to the finish for 1st, followed by the #52 Audi Sport Customer Racing/APR Motorsport Audi R8 and the #60 FXDD Ferrari in 3rd

[twomanymontes]

Daytona Prototype Class Keeps Growing

The Daytona Prototype class grows as Michael Shank Racing and BTE Sport add cars to the lineup for Circuit of The Americas on March 2.



A pair of Daytona Prototype teams whose Rolex 24 At Daytona results didn't quite meet expectations look for better performances next week when the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series journeys to Austin, Texas for its inaugural race at the Circuit of The Americas.

Michael Shank Racing, whose No. 6 Ford/Riley finished 41st at Daytona, this week set the car's driver lineup for the remainder of the 2013 season. Columbian Gustavo Yacaman and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, part of a four-driver tandem at Daytona, will share the No. 6 beginning with the Austin event.

For Shank, it's confirmation of a two-car team for 2013 – a concept he prefers.

"We've been working for a long time to be back to a two-car effort and while there were a lot of good options for us, the biggest thing was to know that we'd be coming to each race with the opportunity to be successful," said Shank, who also fields the No. 60 Ford/Riley shared by 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona winners John Pew and Ozz Negri. "I really believe that with these two drivers we've got the tools we need to be competitive and, hopefully this will be a strong platform for us to build on and prepare for 2014 and beyond."

BTE Sport, meanwhile, heads to the Lone Star State with the stated goal of becoming a top-tier performer in DP after winning three consecutive Ferrari Challenge championships and competing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Formed by John Shapiro, Anthony Massari and Emmanuel Anassis, the team finished 47th in its DP debut.

Massari and Anassis are slated to drive the BTE Sport's No. 27 Ford/Riley.

Yacaman, 22, took third in the 2012 Indy Lights championship with victories at Detroit and Toronto. Pizzonia raced his way up the European open-wheel ladder to compete in Formula 1 with Williams Grand Prix Engineering and Jaguar F1. More recently, he's been a regular in the Brazilian Stock Car Championship.

"I know how good this team is and the racing with these Daytona Prototypes is very competitive and very close so it is something that all the drivers really enjoy," said Yacaman.

Pizzonia echoed his teammate's comments. "I am looking forward to racing with Gustavo and quickly learning all the tracks and getting used to racing in America," he said.

Massari said Shapiro and crew have made significant changes since last month's Daytona race.

"We have made huge improvements to the car," he said. "Our team has had more time to work together and I know we will have a better showing."

Anassis made history last fall when he won Circuit of The America's Ferrari Challenge race held in conjunction with the Formula 1 weekend.

"I've had the most enviable position of being the first driver to ever win at Circuit of The Americas, truly the highlight of my racing career," he said. "This is a world-class track that challenges the team, the drivers and the cars in a way that very few other tracks can."

[twomanymontes]

BMW Opens New Chapter

BMW is getting a head start on 2014 with the introduction of its new Z4 GTE platform that will compete in ALMS's GTE category beginning with next month's 12 Hours of Sebring.


Auto maker gets a jump on 2014 with Z4 GTE in American Le Mans Series GT category

Although a common schedule merging the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series is nearly a year away, BMW is getting a head start on 2014 with the introduction of its new Z4 GTE platform that will compete in ALMS's GTE category beginning with next month's 12 Hours of Sebring.

BMW brought the car, to be campaigned by Team RLL, to Daytona International Speedway earlier this week for a media roll-out. Media and guests from around the world were able to inspect the car up close, talk to team officials and drivers as well as BMW officials. Drivers also provided rides around Daytona's road course.

The car replaces the BMW M3 GT which the automaker has campaigned successfully for four years.

BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt said the March 16 12 Hours of Sebring opens a new chapter in the company's long history of motorsports competition.

"It certainly heralds a new phase of BMW's involvement in motorsport in North America. A lot is going on there – you need only think of the merging of the ALMS and GRAND-AM in 2014," said Marquardt. "It was important for us to set ourselves up for 2013 in such a way that we are well positioned moving into the future. We have achieved that with the development of the BMW Z4 GTE.

"We are setting out on a development year but are very confident we have once again developed a car that has the potential to win races and titles."

Team RLL Principal Bobby Rahal added, "I think that ultimately we can have success and do much as we did in 2009, the first year of the BMW M3 GT and work hard toward achieving maximum results in its first year."

Rahal's organization will campaign two cars – the No. 55 and 56 – with an international driver line-up. They include two-time GRAND-AM Rolex Series GT champion Bill Auberlen, Maxime Martin, John Edwards, ALMS GT champions Dirk Muller and Joey Hand. Jorg Muller and Uwe Alzen will bolster the line-up for endurance races at Sebring and later this fall at Road Atlanta.

GRAND-AM and ALMS earlier this week announced the creation of a joint technical committee tasked with – among other items - the development of technical specifications for the unified series' classes. Names of those classes will be announced March 14 at Sebring International Raceway.

[twomanymontes]

Michael Shank Racing, Ford Working On Turbocharged Engine For 2014

Ford EcoBoost turbo built by Roush Yates to test this year in preparation for 2014 unified series.





As GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón continue to work towards a unified series in 2014, the Daytona Prototype class may see significant changes going forward.

Michael Shank Racing has been working with Ford and GRAND-AM to bring the EcoBoost powerplant into the DP class beginning in 2014, helping usher in a new era of turbocharged engines to the top prototype class of the unified series. The car – which was displayed by Michael Shank Racing at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test at Daytona International Speedway in January – has a 3.5-liter, twin-turbo, direct-injection V6 engine.

Ford’s DP EcoBoost turbo is built by Roush Yates, the famed NASCAR engine builders who also supply Ford’s current V8 DP engine.

“We have the submission of the turbo engine from Ford to GRAND-AM and it's in process right now for homologation if it meets all the guidelines and milestones for the 2014 season,” GRAND-AM Managing Director of Competition Richard Buck told SPEED.com (full story HERE). “And that has been communicated as well with our current partners in the series, including Porsche, GM and BMW.”

Shank is looking at 10 to 12 test days this year so that Ford and GRAND-AM can learn more about the car and how it compares in lap times. Ford currently competes in DP with a 5.0-liter V8 powerplant.

“We are working with GRAND-AM to bring in our EcoBoost powerplant into the DP class, the unified series,” said Ford Racing Director Jamie Allison. “In endurance racing, it's the blend of performance and fuel economy, which is what the P-class is about. You don’t sacrifice performance when you try to go after fuel mileage. And in endurance racing it's equally important.”

[twomanymontes]

Pataskala, Ohio (1 April 2013) – After a month long break in race action, Michael Shank Racing is eager to return for Round 3 of the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season as the team travels to Alabama for the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park – a track where the team has proven successful in previous years. The event will mark Michael Shank Racing's 200th entry in Daytona Prototype competition.

The weekend will see the team welcome back Michael Valiante, who will share the driving duties with John Pew in the No. 60 Ford-Riley as Ozz Negri will sit out the next two Rolex events to facilitate full recovery from the leg injury he suffered in off-season training. Valiante is no stranger to Barber Motorsports Park, having scored a podium position of third in 2009 with Michael Shank Racing as well as netting the pole position at Barber in 2008 for WTR.

Michael Shank Racing has experienced success at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course having earned four podiums at the track (3rd in 2005, 2008, 2009 and a runner-up finish in 2010).

Gustavo Yacaman and Antonio Pizzonia will share driving duties in the No. 6 Ford-Riley as the duo makes their second Rolex Series race start together. The event marks Pizzonia's first visit to the picturesque Alabama road course, while Yacaman will look to put the experience he gained in his three Indy Lights starts at the track (including his best Barber finish of fourth in last year's event) to good use.

While the final result at COTA didn't fully reflect the competitive effort, the exciting duo of former open-wheel racers made an instant impression in their GRAND-AM debut together and will look to continue to move up the order this weekend.

Another podium-promising outing in last year's race came to an abrupt halt when a GT class machine re-entered the track in a blind corner and drove counter-race, forcing Pew, who was running in the lead pack at the time, to drive off track in avoidance. The No. 60 got stuck in the grass and while the field circulated, the Ford machine fell three laps down. But with great strategy and pace in hand, Pew and Negri then rallied back for an eighth place result.

Michael Shank Racing looks to turn its Barber luck back around this weekend after a disappointing Round 2 at Circuit of the Americas in which contact to both Michael Shank Racing machines took the team out of contention for a podium finish in GRAND-AM's debut in Austin. The No. 6 finished seventh and the No. 60 in 16th.

"For whatever reason, Barber has always been a track where we've been competitive so hopefully that will be true again this weekend," said Shank. "Obviously it is a little bit different playbook for us having Michael (Valiante) with us, but he plugs right in to the team and we appreciate him being able to help. Antonio will be learning the track for the first time but he showed in Texas he can pick it up very quickly, and of course this will be the first of a few tracks where Gus has run before, so I'm looking forward to seeing those guys keep building on what they started together in Texas. I have to admit that I was surprised about it being our 200th start and I think it's pretty cool but of course you are always looking forward to the next one, so hopefully we can get down there and make it a weekend to remember!"

The Porsche 250 event opens with a promoter test day on Wednesday and official practice will follow on Thursday. Qualifying is set for Friday morning and the 2-hour sprint event begins on Saturday at 1:45 PM (ET).

The Porsche 250 is held as part of the IndyCar Series event weekend. Live timing and scoring can be followed throughout the weekend at www.grand-am.com.

[twomanymontes]

How Much Faster Will Barber Be?

Since the Rolex Sports Car Series last competed at Barber Motorsports Park, the pavement has been diamond-cut.

This isn't last year's Barber Motorsports Park.

The Birmingham, Ala. track's configuration remains the same: 2.3 miles in length; 17 turns; and 45 feet wide.

The track's asphalt surface is another story. The pavement has been diamond-cut since the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series last competed at the facility in March 2012.

Mark Whitt, Barber Motorsports Park's manager and head of operations, said the process required 11 days to complete using a pair of sleds employing diamond blades which effectively sanded down an aging surface.

"After 10 years, the aggregate was exposed. We took it back down to the asphalt base," he said. "It adds life to the race track. You can imagine the cost of repaving the (whole circuit). It's definitely well worth it."

The takeaway? Most predict lap times leading up to and during Saturday's Porsche 250 will plummet.

"What it does is give you a tremendous amount of bite," said Troy Flis, owner of reigning Barber champion No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP. "It will increase lap speeds and you'll see track records."

Flis' organization tested Continental's 2013 "I" tire at Barber last fall – before the surface was shaved.

"We were faster than when we won the pole and the race," said Flis.

The downside is the potential for excessive tire wear. Practice normally dictates how fast a car can go – particularly early in a stint – and still be competitive at the end of a run. That might not happen this weekend with possible rain in the forecast.

"If it rains you're not going to learn a lot," said Flis, whose organization fields 2012 winner Richard Westbrook and co-driver Ricky Taylor. "We probably won't have a good feeling (for strategy) until we get into the race."

The team will start with last year's setup which was quick enough to win the pole and lead 84 of 103 laps.

"We're definitely excited (about going back)," said Flis, whose team enters the season's third of 12 races ranked seventh in DP points on finishes of fifth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and 11th at Circuit of The Americas. "We need to make up some points here; keep things clean, get no penalties.

"Track position is critical at Barber so we'd like to stay in front like we did last year. I hope this can be a turning point for our program."

The Rolex Sports Car Series Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park will be broadcast on SPEED at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 7.

[twomanymontes]

Been really busy lately. hardly caught any racing in the last 2 months. But end of this month is Watkins Glen and I ain't about to miss that!!

[twomanymontes]

Got to watch most of the replay from last Saturday's race. Rookie in Michael Shank's car messed with Memo Rojas and got taught a lesson. The car went up in flames!

The 01 of Pruett/Rojas is falling fast out of the championship. Hopefully next weekend at the Glen will be a good race for them.

Plus I can't wait to see the new DP entries from Sahlens!!!! They look pretty cool on TV!