Series Daytona January test, day two report
MICHAEL SHANK RACING KEEPS THINGS COOL WITH FASTEST LAP DURINGSATURDAY’S JANUARY TEST DAYS AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Valiante, reigning GT champ Keen fastest in Rolex Series practice;Maxwell, Aschenbach lead respective Continental Tire Sports CarChallenge classes
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 9, 2010) – Cold temperatures and precipitation,including light snow, freezing rain, sleet and patches of ice, merelydampened the morning practice sessions for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports CarSeries presented by Crown Royal Cask no. 16 and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
But drivers, teams and crews kept their cool, and once their sessionsstarted, posted admirable times under the cloudy skies of centralFlorida.
Michael Valiante recorded the fastest lap of the day in the no. 6 MichaelShank Racing Ford Riley, 1:41.237 (126.594 mph), to lead the DaytonaPrototypes. Leh Keen was fastest in GT practice in the no. 41 DempseyRacing/Team Seattle Mazda RX-8, 1:49.214, set late in the night practicesession.
Competitors in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge found conditionsmore to their liking, with Scott Maxwell unofficially bettering theexisting track record.
The Roar before The Rolex 24 wraps up Sunday. The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge will practice from 9 -10 a.m. and 1:30 – 2:15 p.m. TheRolex Series will practice from 10:15 a.m. – noon and 2:30-3:30 p.m. Thesession is open to the public.
Rarely is it as cold as it was Saturday morning in Daytona Beach, wheretemperatures stayed in the low 30s, and an ice buildup around the racetrack forced cancelation of the first Rolex Series session. A handful ofcompetitors in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge braved theuntested track during their first session before waiting it out for theafternoon.
Valiante, who was fastest during several practice sessions during the2009 Daytona Prototype season, set his time late in the afternoon. Timesin Daytona Prototypes dropped off during the 90-minute night practicesession, while GT times picked up.
“Michael Shank Racing has done a fantastic job, and it’s great to beteamed up with Mark Patterson, Brian Frisselle and AJ Allmendinger here,”Valiante said. “I think we will be challenging for the top spot at everyrace we go to this year. I think we will have a shot at the pole here.Unfortunately, it’s been quite cold here. The temperature here today isthe same as it is back home in Vancouver (B.C., Canada), and I wasexpecting Florida to be a lot warmer.”
David Donohue was second fastest in Daytona Prototypes in the no. 59Brumos Porsche Riley, 1:42.088 (125.539 mph). He was followed byChristophe Bouchut in the no. 55 Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley, 1:42.106(125.517 mph); Jon Fogarty in the no. 99 GAINSCO Chevrolet Riley,1:42.207 (125.393 mph); and Pedro Lamy in the no. 10 SunTrust Racing FordDallara, 1:42.352 (125.215 mph).
Robin Liddell was second quickest in GT with a lap of 1:50.565 (115.914mph) in the no. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro, followed by JorgBergmeister, 1:50.604 (115.873 mph) in the no. 67 TRG/Flying LizardPorsche GT3, Sylvain Tremblay in SpeedSource’s no. 70 Castrol SyntecMazda RX-8, 1:50.698 (115.774 mph), Paul Edwards in the no. 07 GodstoneRanch Motorsport Corvette, 1:50.889 (115.575 mph) and Andy Lally in theNo. 66 TRG Shore Tel Porsche GT3, 1:50.978 (115.482 mph).
“We’re pretty happy with the car so far,” said Liddell, who co-drove aStevenson Pontiac GXP.R with (Andrew) Davis the past two seasons. “We hada pretty good test here in December, and obviously I was able to put downa pretty good lap. So it looks like we’re in good shape. Andrew and Iwork very well together, and having Jan (Magnussen) in the car is a greataddition to the team.”
Scott Dixon led the early afternoon session with a lap of 1:43.325(124.036 mph). AJ Allmendinger was fastest in night practice with a lapof 1:41.448. Bergmeister was fastest in the early GT session, 1:50.214(116.283 mph).
“It was really cold out there,” Allmendinger said. “These are conditionsyou normally don’t race in. I’ve been at Daytona before when it was cold,but this was like ice out there. when the tires were cold it was nutstrying to hang on.”
Competitors in both the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports CarChallenge took advantage of the sessions to practice GRAND-AM’s newrestart procedure. on the final lap of caution periods, competitors inthe faster class (either Daytona Prototype or Grand Sport) will fall intoa continuous line, followed by the GT or Street Tuner competitors.
Like their Rolex Series counterparts, Continental Tire Sports CarChallenge competitors experienced the wrath of cold temperatures andprecipitation throughout their two sessions. During the first session,only five cars took track time due to the temperatures and drizzle, while47 Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) machines participated in thesecond hour-long session.
A day after BMW M3s swept the top five, the Ford Mustang GTs struck gold,grabbing the top four spots. Maxwell managed the quickest time in theafternoon, posting a time of 1:59.215 (107.503 mph) in the no. 16Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT.
Overall, three different Mustang teams were in the top four. Todd Snyderturned the second fastest time in the no. 11 CMA Motorsports Ford MustangGT, 1:59.710 (107.059 mph), the only other car under the two-minute mark.The defending championship-winning car, the no. 59 Belesta Ford MustangGT from Rehagen Racing, was third, with Ken Wilden behind the wheel.Multimatic also claimed fourth with Gunnar Jeannette in the no. 71 FordMustang GT, while Joey Hand ended the Mustang’s hot streak with TurnerMotorsport’s no. 97 BMW M3.
In ST, Compass360 Racing went from 2-3-4 on Friday to 1-2-3 on Saturdaywith its trio of Honda Civic Sis. Leading the way was 2009 Fresh FromFlorida 200 co-winner Lawson Aschenbach, who drove the no. 77 Skunk2/HPDHonda Civic Si, with a time of 2:10.078 (98.526 mph). Ryan Eversley wassecond in the no. 75 Skunk2/J.C. Concrete Honda Civic Si at 2:10.334(98.332 mph), while Jesse Combs clocked in with a time of 2:10.655(98.090 mph) in the no. 74 Skunk2/Hondata Honda Civic Si.
BimmerWorld and Irish Mike’s Racing were also fast. BimmerWorld teamowner James Clay was fourth quickest in the no. 80 BMW 328i, while ToddBuras claimed fifth in the no. 51 Volkswagen Jetta.
-source: msr