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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: COTA Preview
John Dagys previews Saturday’s second round of the Rolex Series, the GRAND-AM of The Americas (5:30 p.m. ET, SPEED)...
Chip Ganassi Racing heads into Saturday's GRAND-AM of The Americas as the championship leaders in DP. (Photo: LAT)
On the heels of an fascinating season-opener, a recent boost to its grid and a visit to North America’s new state-of-the-art F1 circuit, the Rolex Sports Car Series has gone from strength to strength.
This weekend’s GRAND-AM of The Americas presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL (Saturday, 5:30 p.m., SPEED) looks set to continue the momentum for the competitive sports car championship as it makes its highly anticipated debut in the Lone Star state.
Thirty-five cars are set to do battle in the two-hour and 45-minute contest on the 20-turn, 3.427-mile circuit, which played host to Formula One just three months ago. It will mark the first standalone sports car race at the Hermann Tilke-designed facility and only second major at CoTA event since the U.S. GP in November.
Perhaps the biggest development riding into the second round of the season is the impressive field of 16 Daytona Prototypes, the largest regular season race DP field in more than three years and only one shy of last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, where Chip Ganassi Racing secured its fifth around-the-clock victory.
Defending champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas will be looking to continue their winning ways, although their Riley-BMW may not be up to the same performance levels seen in Daytona. Among a series of Balance of Performance adjustments issued by GRAND-AM last week has been a switch back to an OEM intake trumpet for the Dinan-tuned BMW powerplant.
Other BoP changes include the expected removal of an air restrictor imposed on the Corvette DPs at Daytona, which will come as a benefit for the bow-tie brigade, including Rolex 24 runner-ups Wayne Taylor Racing and drivers Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor, who trail Ganassi’s Pruett and Rojas by three points.
Michael Shank Racing has been in the spotlight for more than one reason, as its No. 60 Riley-Ford of Ozz Negri and John Pew return to action after being stripped of third place points at Daytona due to an engine infraction. However, good news came last week with the Ohio-based team confirming its No. 6 entry for Gustavo Yacaman and Antonio Pizzonia for the remainder of the season.
Fellow Ford-powered squad Starworks Motorsports will also be looking to put the Rolex 24 behind them, with a re-organized No. 2 crew driven by Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow hoping to make inroads on the championship as well. Brendon Hartley and Scott Mayer will pilot the team’s No. 8 Riley this weekend.
Other contenders in DP include Corvette entries from Spirit of Daytona Racing, Action Express Racing, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and 8Star Motorsports, which sees Stephane Sarrazin back behind the wheel of the orange-colored machine with Enzo Potolicchio.
GRAND-AM’s first trip to CoTA has also attracted a few part-time entries, including the No. 77 Doran Racing Dallara-Ford for CORE autosport’s Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, along with the return of Krohn Racing with its former Proto-Auto Lola-Ford, now being run under the Krohn Racing nameplate for drivers Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson.
This weekend’s GRAND-AM of The Americas presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL (Saturday, 5:30 p.m., SPEED) looks set to continue the momentum for the competitive sports car championship as it makes its highly anticipated debut in the Lone Star state.
Thirty-five cars are set to do battle in the two-hour and 45-minute contest on the 20-turn, 3.427-mile circuit, which played host to Formula One just three months ago. It will mark the first standalone sports car race at the Hermann Tilke-designed facility and only second major at CoTA event since the U.S. GP in November.
Perhaps the biggest development riding into the second round of the season is the impressive field of 16 Daytona Prototypes, the largest regular season race DP field in more than three years and only one shy of last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, where Chip Ganassi Racing secured its fifth around-the-clock victory.
Defending champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas will be looking to continue their winning ways, although their Riley-BMW may not be up to the same performance levels seen in Daytona. Among a series of Balance of Performance adjustments issued by GRAND-AM last week has been a switch back to an OEM intake trumpet for the Dinan-tuned BMW powerplant.
Other BoP changes include the expected removal of an air restrictor imposed on the Corvette DPs at Daytona, which will come as a benefit for the bow-tie brigade, including Rolex 24 runner-ups Wayne Taylor Racing and drivers Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor, who trail Ganassi’s Pruett and Rojas by three points.
Michael Shank Racing has been in the spotlight for more than one reason, as its No. 60 Riley-Ford of Ozz Negri and John Pew return to action after being stripped of third place points at Daytona due to an engine infraction. However, good news came last week with the Ohio-based team confirming its No. 6 entry for Gustavo Yacaman and Antonio Pizzonia for the remainder of the season.
Fellow Ford-powered squad Starworks Motorsports will also be looking to put the Rolex 24 behind them, with a re-organized No. 2 crew driven by Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow hoping to make inroads on the championship as well. Brendon Hartley and Scott Mayer will pilot the team’s No. 8 Riley this weekend.
Other contenders in DP include Corvette entries from Spirit of Daytona Racing, Action Express Racing, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and 8Star Motorsports, which sees Stephane Sarrazin back behind the wheel of the orange-colored machine with Enzo Potolicchio.
GRAND-AM’s first trip to CoTA has also attracted a few part-time entries, including the No. 77 Doran Racing Dallara-Ford for CORE autosport’s Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, along with the return of Krohn Racing with its former Proto-Auto Lola-Ford, now being run under the Krohn Racing nameplate for drivers Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson.
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