Final 2011 Test For New Grand-Am Prototypes

The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series held its final test of the year on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road/oval course on Monday, December 19th. 

Five Daytona Prototype entries and a single GT car took to the track for a final opportunity before gathering the first week of January for final preparations for the 50th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The five Daytona Prototype entries on the track included the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP for Darren Law, David Donohue and Christian Fittipaldi; a No. 9 Action Express Corvette with Terry Borcheller, JC France and Max Papis; the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor; AJ Allmendinger and John Pew in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford/Riley; and the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP with Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Memo Gidley.

These Daytona Prototypes turned 267 trouble-free laps in the seven-hour session.  

Rick Ware Racing was the single GT participant; their Porsche GT3 featured Brett Sandberg, Tomy Drissi, Timmy Hill and Rick's father, John Ware, who shook down the car. This team will field a Ford Mustang for the full 2012 season with Jeffrey Earnhardt as the lead driver.

Today's outing was the first public test for Gidley, just named as co-driver on the No. 99 "Red Dragon." The Californian has competed in 74 Rolex Series races, last racing in a DP for Doran Racing in the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway.  

During the day, Starworks Motorsport team owner Peter Baron and his lead driver, Ryan Dalziel stopped by the track to pick up their new Riley DPG3 (Daytona Prototype Gen 3) chassis. The team expects to have the car completed, with its Ford engine installed in time for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 on January 6-8.

The drivers were pleased with the new Corvette. Max Papis noted, "This new car came out of the box pretty awesome; I'm impressed with both the reliability and speed, given that this is only its second test." Alex Gurney's "first impressions of the new car are really good," he said.

Allmendinger, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series was happy with the new Riley chassis, powered by Ford. "After my first laps in the new DP, the new Riley is really smooth and easy to drive. It's a nice car and it looks really cool," Allmendiner said. "Overall, the test has been good."

Teammate John Pew found the car "a little bit different to drive, but it's awesome. The guys id an excellent job of getting it ready--we're still learning the car, but it's all good and it looks beautiful, too."

The Action Express team "changed everything from last season--car, chassis and engine," David Donohue remarked. "The guys are still getting their arms around the car and getting to make it their own." Action Express used a Porsche Cayenne V-8 engine last year.

The 50th anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona is scheduled for January 28-29; in addition to the twice-around-the-clock race, Grand-Am has lined up many of the former winners for what will certainly be an historic static display of exceptional endurance racers.

For more details on the Corvette DP, click here.

© 2011 Anne Proffit