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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Homestead-Miami Preview
John Dagys looks ahead to Sunday's Grand Prix of Miami (Live! 1 p.m. ET, SPEED), the third round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season...
Starworks Motorsport head into Sunday's Grand Prix of Miami as Daytona Prototype point leaders. (Photo: John Dagys)
Despite still being in the early stages of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season, it’s clear the new-look Daytona Prototype category has already generated its share of surprises.
With two different winners in the first two races, and neither coming from the once all-dominant Chip Ganassi Racing stables, the battle for the championship remains wide open heading into this weekend’s Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, Live! SPEED).
It’s amazing the difference a year can make, particularly for defending champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, who swept the opening three races of 2011. Fast forward 12 months and the Telmex Chip Ganassi duo sit fifth in the point standings with only one podium to their credit.
But despite it being the worst start for the Riley-BMW crew in six seasons, the 2.3-mile, 11-turn south Florida “roval” circuit has been happy hunting ground for Pruett and Rojas, who have celebrated wins here in 2008, 2010 and 2011. And they went onto take the DP title in each of those years.
While the Corvette DPs dominated last month’s Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park, with Spirit of Daytona’s Antonio Garcia and Richard Westbrook giving the Troy Flis-led team its long-awaited first overall win, the new-gen Rileys should be strong on the banked oval, as they proved to be at Daytona.
A recent Balance of Performance adjustment handed out by GRAND-AM could also give the likes of Ganassi, current championship leaders Starworks Motorsport and Rolex 24 winners Michael Shank Racing more flexibility in car setup, thanks the allowance of front dive planes, a luxury the Corvette-bodied DPs had enjoyed since the start of the year.
Strong runs at Daytona and Baber has put Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio at the top of the title race, but only marginally, as the Starworks duo hold a two-point lead over Garcia, Westbrook and MSR’s Ozz Negri and John Pew.
The Peter Baron-led team’s sister Riley-Ford, expected to be fully upgraded to 2012-spec this weekend, is not out of the hunt either, with Alex Popow and Lucas Luhr only three markers behind their championship-leading teammates.
In addition to Pruett and Rojas, who sit five points behind in fifth, both GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and Action Express Racing will be aiming for their first victories of the season on Sunday after showing their strength in Barber, particularly the Red Dragon of Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, which helped lead home the historic Corvette 1-2.
And after a miserable start to the 2012 season, including an incident-filled weekend at Barber for Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli, SunTrust Racing will just be trying to get back on track in hopes of making up lost ground. Yet, their Dallara-chassied Corvette DP, which proved to be the quickest DP at Daytona, could definitely play into contention at HMS.
With two different winners in the first two races, and neither coming from the once all-dominant Chip Ganassi Racing stables, the battle for the championship remains wide open heading into this weekend’s Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, Live! SPEED).
It’s amazing the difference a year can make, particularly for defending champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, who swept the opening three races of 2011. Fast forward 12 months and the Telmex Chip Ganassi duo sit fifth in the point standings with only one podium to their credit.
But despite it being the worst start for the Riley-BMW crew in six seasons, the 2.3-mile, 11-turn south Florida “roval” circuit has been happy hunting ground for Pruett and Rojas, who have celebrated wins here in 2008, 2010 and 2011. And they went onto take the DP title in each of those years.
While the Corvette DPs dominated last month’s Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park, with Spirit of Daytona’s Antonio Garcia and Richard Westbrook giving the Troy Flis-led team its long-awaited first overall win, the new-gen Rileys should be strong on the banked oval, as they proved to be at Daytona.
A recent Balance of Performance adjustment handed out by GRAND-AM could also give the likes of Ganassi, current championship leaders Starworks Motorsport and Rolex 24 winners Michael Shank Racing more flexibility in car setup, thanks the allowance of front dive planes, a luxury the Corvette-bodied DPs had enjoyed since the start of the year.
Strong runs at Daytona and Baber has put Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio at the top of the title race, but only marginally, as the Starworks duo hold a two-point lead over Garcia, Westbrook and MSR’s Ozz Negri and John Pew.
The Peter Baron-led team’s sister Riley-Ford, expected to be fully upgraded to 2012-spec this weekend, is not out of the hunt either, with Alex Popow and Lucas Luhr only three markers behind their championship-leading teammates.
In addition to Pruett and Rojas, who sit five points behind in fifth, both GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and Action Express Racing will be aiming for their first victories of the season on Sunday after showing their strength in Barber, particularly the Red Dragon of Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, which helped lead home the historic Corvette 1-2.
And after a miserable start to the 2012 season, including an incident-filled weekend at Barber for Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli, SunTrust Racing will just be trying to get back on track in hopes of making up lost ground. Yet, their Dallara-chassied Corvette DP, which proved to be the quickest DP at Daytona, could definitely play into contention at HMS.
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