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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Spirit Of Daytona Tops Practice 2 At Mid-Ohio
Spirit of Daytona signals Rolex pole intentions with fast time in Practice 2...
Spirit of Daytona led the way in the second practice of the day at Mid-Ohio. (Photo: Brian Cleary/GRAND-AM)
After starting sixth and storming to lead the race, only to fall afoul of contact with a GT Class entry, the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette of Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante were left to rue the missed opportunity last week in Detroit in round five of the Rolex Sports Car Series championship.
But the Daytona-based blue squad, which broke through for a maiden DP class victory at Barber Motorsports Park, made their intentions clear on Friday afternoon as Valiante posted a fast lap time of 1:18.366-seconds in the second practice session and will look to back that up with a quick time in Friday’s qualifying session.
“We haven’t had that strong of a qualifying record this year,” admitted team owner Troy Flis. “But it’s been down to the team, not the drivers. But we’ve had really good, fast race cars and hopefully we can do a little bit better in qualifying. Michael (Valiante) is doing a great job for us. It’s good to have a quick car ahead of qualifying, but we are really excited about the pace we’ve got with tires that have 40 laps on them.”
Valiante is playing the role of sub as he runs a limited schedule to supplement the schedule conflicts for SoD regular Antonio Garcia as he attends to his Corvette Racing duties.
“The car is good,” said Valiante, who will also be playing double duty by racing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race Saturday morning. “The biggest difference is we haven’t rolled out well the last few tracks, but by the time the race comes, the car has been good. So, this is the first weekend where we’ve had a good car in practice and going into qualifying since I’ve been here. It’s great and the team is working really hard and doing a great job.”
The practice saw the lead Rolex Series GT Class swapping positions from the first session as the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana lead the pack ahead of the No. 67 TRG Porsche of Steven Bertheau and Spencer Pumpelly.
The DP and GT class grid will be set on Friday afternoon with a pair of 15-minute sessions.
RESULTS: Practice 2
With experience at Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock Park, and several IndyCar teams, Matt Cleary has covered open wheel and sports car racing for over a decade. Working for Sunday Group Management, Cleary also provides strategic motorsports consulting for a range of clients in the sport. You can follow him on Twitter @sundaygroup.
But the Daytona-based blue squad, which broke through for a maiden DP class victory at Barber Motorsports Park, made their intentions clear on Friday afternoon as Valiante posted a fast lap time of 1:18.366-seconds in the second practice session and will look to back that up with a quick time in Friday’s qualifying session.
“We haven’t had that strong of a qualifying record this year,” admitted team owner Troy Flis. “But it’s been down to the team, not the drivers. But we’ve had really good, fast race cars and hopefully we can do a little bit better in qualifying. Michael (Valiante) is doing a great job for us. It’s good to have a quick car ahead of qualifying, but we are really excited about the pace we’ve got with tires that have 40 laps on them.”
Valiante is playing the role of sub as he runs a limited schedule to supplement the schedule conflicts for SoD regular Antonio Garcia as he attends to his Corvette Racing duties.
“The car is good,” said Valiante, who will also be playing double duty by racing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race Saturday morning. “The biggest difference is we haven’t rolled out well the last few tracks, but by the time the race comes, the car has been good. So, this is the first weekend where we’ve had a good car in practice and going into qualifying since I’ve been here. It’s great and the team is working really hard and doing a great job.”
The practice saw the lead Rolex Series GT Class swapping positions from the first session as the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana lead the pack ahead of the No. 67 TRG Porsche of Steven Bertheau and Spencer Pumpelly.
The DP and GT class grid will be set on Friday afternoon with a pair of 15-minute sessions.
RESULTS: Practice 2
With experience at Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock Park, and several IndyCar teams, Matt Cleary has covered open wheel and sports car racing for over a decade. Working for Sunday Group Management, Cleary also provides strategic motorsports consulting for a range of clients in the sport. You can follow him on Twitter @sundaygroup.
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