The Spirit of Daytona team has been working hard to develop a Daytona Prototype car for the Rolex Sports Car Series. The team has made many changes in the last few years in order to become more competitive, explaining the phasing out of the old Spirit of Daytona No. 09 car. The old car was replaced by a brand new No. 90 Porsche Coyote, driven by the newly signed duo of Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia.

The changes seem to have worked in favor of the team. Halfway through the season the team has progressed well with its new No.90 Porsche Coyote, notching impressive results throughout. The team is currently in the sixth position, courtesy its podium finish in the last race. The team-mates were thrilled after the Spirit of Daytona No. 90 Porsche V8 got the teams its first ever victory in the Daytona Prototype class. Buddy Rice, reflecting on the recent podium finish, said that the result was long overdue. According to him, the main objective of the team was to keep on working on the car, so that it was able to compete with the top five in the Daytona Prototype class. He also said that once the team settles down properly, it would be competing for podium finishes week in, week out. He was also pleased that the team-mates were gelling well with each other and working as a unit.

Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia took over the reins of the No.90 Porsche Coyote, after the Rolex Sports Car Series at the Mid-Ohio event last year. Since then, they have successfully consolidated their position with a spate of solid results in the racing circuit. The podium finish at the recently concluded event is a result of the hard work put in by them day in and day out. Acknowledging that it has been a hard grind for them, the duo were happy that all the hard work put in by the team finally paid off. According to them, they had been progressing in the right direction for a long time, and the podium finish was a culmination of the efforts put in by the team.

After the changes last season, the Spirit of Daytona team has been showing good results in practice and qualification sessions; however, podium finishes continued to elude them until now.  Buddy Rice was anxious that experience mattered on the race tracks and it was difficult for them to compete as other teams had years of experience behind them. However, he was positive that the team would come up with better performances after the podium finish.

The organizers of GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series have announced that this year’s Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16 Awards Banquet will be held in Las Vegas on the 13th of September.

The awards banquet is to be held two days after the season finale at the Miller Motorsport Park near Salt Lake City, Utah. This is the third time the awards banquet will be coming to the city of Las Vegas, which had previously hosted the awards banquet in2004 and 2006-08.

The awards banquet is to honor the top three position grabbers in the Daytona Prototype and the Grand Touring class, featuring the driving and manufacturer’s championship, along with Pro-AM winners, MESCO Building for the future Rookie of the Year and a host of other awards. The awards ceremony is to be hosted by SPEED TV Analyst, Calvin Fish and Pit lane reporter, Chris Neville.

The Rolex Sports Car Series is the premier-most racing tournament conducted by the Grand American Road Racing Association. The series originated in 2000 replacing the United States Road Racing Championship. The series featuring Sports Racing Prototypes and Grand Touring cars is built around the Rolex 24 at Daytona competition.

The Rolex Sports Car Series has seen many changes over the years. One of these changes involved the Sports Racing Prototypes, which were replaced by Daytona Prototypes in the year 2003. The cost effective Daytona Prototypes were specifically built for the Rolex Car Series in a controlled technological environment so that no car could have a huge advantage over the rest of the field. Due to these restrictions, the racing environment became hugely competitive, characterized by close finishes.

The Rolex Sports Car Series was seen as an alternative to the American Le Mans Series, formerly known as the IMSA GT Championship. Later the league acquired Six Hours of Watkins Glen, giving the league its second endurance class racing tournament along with the 24 hours of Daytona. This allowed the league to compete with the American Le Mans Series, which had 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans as endurance events. The Grand Touring (GT) class is further classified into three subdivisions, which include GTO for larger production based cars, GTU for smaller cars and the AGT for American tube frame based cars.

Over the years the GT class has attracted a large number of Americans, Europeans and Japanese manufacturers who find the conditions at Daytona to their liking. Some of the popular brands running in the competition include Chevrolet, Pontiac, BMW, Porsche and Mazda.

The winners of the Daytona Prototype class include racing greats like Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, Jorg Bergmeister, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett. The GT class has found its own fair share of racing greats in Craig Stanton, Andy Lally and Marc Bunting and Dirk Werner.

The duo of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas struck a cautionary note when queried about their status of being the favorites to win this year’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.  However, racing experts have already prophesied their victory on the back of a series dominating opening at this year’s racing championship.

The duo would have none of it, stating that it was too early to think about winning the championship as anything could happen in the remaining leg of the series.  According to Pruett, thinking about winning the championship so early into the series could be their nemesis, explaining their reluctance to wear the ‘favorites’ tag. The duo has been on a winning streak, having won four of the six opening races in the No. 01 TELEMEX BMW/Riley, making them the firm favorites to win this year’s championship.

The duo of Pruett and Rojas has extended their lead over second placed Ryan Dalziel by 18 points on the back of good performances, making them the most likely winners of the Daytona Prototype for the second time running in three years. The second half of the racing season starts with the EMCO Gears Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, June 19th.

Pruett and Rojas started on an auspicious note, finishing second at the season opener at Daytona, followed by a slew of wins at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Barber Motorsports Park and Virginia International Raceway. This impressive series of victories was followed by an aberration at Lime Rock, where the team finished last. However, the duo more than made up for the last placed finish by winning the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.

The duo has learnt their lessons from the last place finish at Lime Rock, where they were pushed off the racing tracks in the first lap itself. Striking a cautionary note, Rojas said that the Lime Rock accident taught them that nothing could be taken for granted and that they would have to perform to the best of their capacity in order to win the championship.

Second placed Ryan Dalziel nailed the season opener with a win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, followed by a podium finish at the Lime Rock event, where he partnered with Mike Forest in the No. 8 Corsa Car Care BMW/Riley.  The duo of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor stand in the third position with 166 points in their No.10 SunTrust Ford/Dallara, with three consecutive podium finishes in the last three races.

The series will return to Daytona International Speedway after the Ohio event, for the Brumos Porsche 250 on the 3rd of July. The GRAND-AM Sports Car Series would also feature events at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Watkins Glen, and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, finally winding up with the season closing event at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah on the 11th of September.

Star-studded drivers of the Level 5 Motorsports are ready to race at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Level 5 Motorsports has announced its teams which consist of the best driver lineup and can be the future winner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona 2010. Speeding cars are making way for the Daytona International Speedway track which is located on the beach of Daytona at Florida and these cars will be racing at the opening race of the 2010 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16 which is taking place at the last weekend of the month of January 30-31^st. This year is looking really promising for the Level 5 Motorsports team as the team is landing with two cars in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. This racing event is an initiative by Rolex who is also the title sponsor of the event. An effort has been put by Rolex to bring together the top-notch talent from all over the world so that the sport is kept alive in the hearts of people.

Level 5 Motorsports have always had champion racers with it and this year as well the tradition is being carried forward. The team has announced its star-studded drivers and is ready with the No. 55 and No. 95 BMW Riley Daytona Prototypes for the season’s opening race the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The team will have the regular Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut combo as both of them have won many races last year in 2009. Scott Tucker has 10 victories in the Ferrari Challenge Series and had also won the Ferrari Challenge Dealership Championship for Boardwalk Ferrari. This champion driver will have the company of Christophe Bouchut who was the past winner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa. Recently, Christophe Bouchut was associated with the Red Bull Formula One team and was very successful driver in the history of the Champ Car World Series. The car No. 55 BMW Riley’s co-driver is Sascha Maassen and Emmanuel Collards. Sascha Maassen can run the metallic beauty with so such of ease that audience get excited

when they see him racing on the tracks. He was the champion in the American Le Mans Series and was placed fourth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2002 and 2006. The Frenchman Emmanuel Collards has won the 2005 Rolex 24 in a Daytona Prototype, the 24 Hours of Spa and the Porsche Supercup Driver’s championship. His winning spirit is likely to lead the team to a victory in the upcoming Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The car No.95 BMW Riley will see participation of Ryan Hunter-Reay who was standout performer at IZOD IndyCar Series and he was the winner at Watkins Glen International. Ryan Hunter-Reay will be accompanied by the German driver Lucas Luhr along with Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut. Lucas Luhr has also won the GT class in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and American LeMans LMP2 and GT championship. Level 5 Motorsports is racing with the best cars in the Daytona Prototype with the star-studded champion drivers. These champions drivers are going to light fire on the tracks with their driving skills and the Rolex 24 At Daytona will be the race to watch for.

The 2005 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series was another of the landmark years in the ever evolving world of Rolex Racing with the race honors of the year going deservingly to the race driver duo of SunTrust Racing. The year had begun with lots of anticipations among all of the teams and every driver was hoping that this would turn out to be his year especially as the prestige of the Daytona Prototypes was rising with each passing year. Expectedly every racing team tried its hardest to perform well to leave a mark on the world of Rolex sponsored motorsports tournament. But one team that performed tremendously well to out beat every competitor quite comfortably and repeatedly was the SunTrust Racing team which had the great duo of Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli on the wheels who ensured that they got their hands on the Daytona Prototype championship through outstanding performance all year long.

In their quest for winning the prestigious 2005 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series the SunTrust Racing had done all the preparations and it was the result of the efforts of the entire team including crew, mechanics and drivers that their Daytona Prototype not only completed every single lap and every single mile, a rare achievement in itself, but also went on to win five out of a possible of fourteen races. In the end after covering 2,050 laps which involved more than 6000 miles the team emerged victorious and the proud duo of Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli won the coveted Daytona Prototype championship. It was expected right at the onset of the 2005

Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series that the year would be another memorable chapter in the strong relationship that was building between the Grand Am Racing Association and the world number one manufacturer of luxury watches, Rolex. As the championship concluded the expectations were not only met but were exceeded as well.

The 2005 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series had started off splendidly with the Rolex 24 At Daytona which witnessed one of the strongest ever lineup of great drivers on the Daytona International Speedway. The race being the toughest among the endurance races was expected to test the skills of everyone and it went on to become even more memorable than what was initially expected. The race involved 710 laps and there were many records that were set on that day. There were as much as 43 lead changes which involved eight cars and sixteen drivers. The winner of the race was the SunTrust Racing team which also had the services of Emmanuel Collard to assist Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli. The team in fact was leading the fleet of cars for as much as 282 laps and the way they were racing it looked like that the 2005 Daytona Prototype Championship is going to be theirs and they made sure that that is how things turn out to be in the end. Also the 2005 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series had some new additions which included races at Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen International and Mexico City.

The Daytona Prototypes and GT racing cars were finally speeding down the tracks of Daytona International Speedway during the first day of the test series in their preparation for the 2010 Rolex At 24 Daytona. The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 December Test Days saw the participation of 24 cars. The first day of testing saw champion drivers with their speeding cars preparing for next month’s Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 30-31, 2010. First time racers on the track were Action Express Racing (Daytona Prototype) and ZMG, Magnus Racing and Turner Motorsport (GT). The day also saw an active participation from Scott Pruett, Max Angelelli, Buddy Rice, Sylvain Tremblay and Bill Auberlen who were representing the veteran racers as well as former champions of Rolex At 24 Daytona on the testing day. The day was also witness to the comeback of Jade Buford, Bob Doyle, Paul Dalla Lana and Derek Johnst who enjoyed their day on the track. Fast and furious cars speeding on track mostly get into major accidents but till now this test series faced none. The series has the seven hours run. The race was spilt up into a three-hour morning practice and four-hour afternoon session.

Daytona Prototypes began participating in the 2003 Rolex 24 Daytona and since then have been the centre of attraction on the track. Daytona Prototypes saw defending champions David Donohue and Darren Law co-driving with five-time Rolex 24 Dayton winner Hurley Haywood in the No. 59 Porsche Riley which is a Porsche flat-six engine. Porsche has won the Grand Prix of Miami in the year 2009 with No.58 machine. Bob Johnson has created a technical alliance with Brumos for action express racing. He will racing on the tracks with Riley Daytona Prototype. The car was last raced by Pacific Coast Motorsports. Homestead-Miami Speedway winner Joao Barbosa hired him in 2009.

A three-year winning team TELMAEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will participate in January. During the month of December the team will be evaluating a new BMW engine. SunTrust is racing with the same driver lineup for the Rolex 24 in 2010. The drivers are Max Angelelli, Brian Frisselle and Pedro Lamy. Kevin Doran Racing will have five drivers in the cockpit of the No. 77 for this test series. The last year team Brad Jaeger and Memo Gidley will team with Dion von Moltke, Michel Jourdain and Mike Forest. Guardian Angel Motorsports had debuted in the Rolex Series last season. It is a returning team with Bruce Ledoux, David Quinlan, Tim Evans and Bob Doyle. Stevenson Motorsports is driving with the newest car the No. 57 Camaro GT.R. which is driven by Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis who planned to continued to work together for this series. This duo team has won six series over the last two seasons. This Rolex 24 Daytona is a series for motorsports lovers who bring in their passion for driving fast machines to perfection and test the caliber of the machine on the tracks. Rolex have been associated with the sport to keep pushing people to reach higher levels of achievements in life. The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is the most awaited series for motorsport lovers as it brings in old and new champions together.

The changing fortunes of the Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can probably be credited to the steadfast support of Rolex. The celebrated Swiss Brand, Rolex has played a pivotal role in molding the Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series into a world class event. The Rolex Series has become equated with the best racing tournaments in the world. Enabling the drivers to reach for perfection, the coveted Rolex Series is an arena that witnesses some of the most spectacular driving skills in the history of motor sports racing. Every year the spectators line the stands of the Grand-Am Rolex Series waiting anxiously for the champions to roar past in an awesome display of skill. Branching out into all spheres of the media world, the Grand-Am not only receives extensive media coverage but had to launch its own medium for interacting with the increasing number of fans.

The surging popularity of the Rolex Series and the exceeding number of enthusiastic fans has driven the organizing committees to venture out into newer avenues. Right from webcasts to television programs and radio shows the Grand-Am committee is ensuring that the spectators have added opportunities to interact with their favorite racers and learn about other aspects of the series. The Grand-Am Weekly radio show and webcasts feature champion racers who partake in enhancing the fan experience. The most interesting aspect of the Grand-Am Weekly radio show is that it allows the skilled racers to interact directly with the fans and answer their queries regarding every aspect of this eminent sport racing tournament.

This year the champion drivers of the Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Burt Frisselle and Brian Frisselle will together feature on the Grand-Am Weekly radio show and webcast along with Acxiom GT champion Kelly Collins. Driving the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara along with team mate Max Angelelli, Brian Frisselle is one of the most well respected racers of the Rolex Series and has many spectacular finishes to his credit. While, Burt Frisselle the rising star in the Rolex Series championships replaced his elder brother, Brian Frisselle to become a part of the AIM Autosport team. Representing the AIM Autosport team that currently stands at the sixth place in the series, Burt Frisselle along with team member Wilkins has three top-five finishes to his name. The other member of the Grand-Am Weekly radio show, Kelly Collins along with team mate Paul Edwards currently stands at the number two spot on the GT standings with five podium finishes to his name.

The highly capable race car drivers that will feature on the radio show ensure that every single fan is allowed to better comprehend the scope and range of the Grand-Am Rolex Series along with the finer aspects of motor sport racing. The extremely interactive radio show gives a better insight into the challenges faced by the drivers while racing along with the requisites that are required to becoming a champion racer. Hitting the air waves every Tuesday the radio show is a rare window into the elements and aspects that form the core of the Grand-Am Rolex Series.

The Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series presented by Rolex is known to be a tough racing event that tests the endurance, determination and the spirit of the racers. Regarded as a formidable racing challenge the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series attracts the most determined racers from all over the world. Rolex the fuel behind this highly prolific event understands that merely having a passion for racing is not enough it is equally important to be able to adapt and conquer daunting conditions. In honor of these racers Rolex consistently lends all its support for the recognition and promotion of these champions. To be a true master of the sport of racing and a world champion one has to be able to comprehend and take into account all the underlying factors that are required to race.

As a spectator racing around the circuit in a continuous loop seems quite easy however, this sport requires tremendous skill, focus and the strength to withstand almost unbearable conditions. To increase their chances of winning and with the constant state of development of the Daytona Prototype racing cars the top speeds have reached incredible new levels. The surge in speed consequently means an increase in the overall temperature of the car. Nowadays the racers do not just have to keep in their purview the competition, control over speed and the wheel but also be prepared to face the sauna like conditions in the cockpit of the racing car. The 850 horsepower engine of the car produces a lot of heat and most of it finds its way into the cabin. Many racers have to be taken to the Daytona Medical Center to get a dose of intravenous fluids in order to replenish their body systems. All the Daytona Prototype cars have engines placed on the rear while most of these cars are fitted with front mounted radiators that cause the extremely hot air to move directly towards the cockpits. However a few rule changes have led to the radiators moving to the sides of the cars. Even though this has led to a drastic reduction of temperature in the cockpit of the Daytona Prototype a few more changes still have to be incorporate in to the system.

The temperature reading inside the cabin of Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford had reached an unbelievable 116 degrees that equals the temperature of the Mojave Desert. The natural process of development and evolution calls for the lowering of the temperatures inside the cabin and measures have to be taken to introduce air conditioning to allow the racers to focus on the race and not be bothered by the sweltering heat.

The introduction and incorporation of air conditioning in the racing vehicles is not an easy task and many factors have to be taken into account. The Grand-Am officials are have already begun studying the various aspects and collecting data on to taking a decision of introducing the air conditioning system, extracting more air out through the roof vents or feeding the cabin with more fresh air ahead of the radiators.

A decisive action is going to follow through soon but until then the racers have to battle the competitors while fending off the discomfort caused by the surging heat.

A mammoth task that tests the limits of human endurance and determination- the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a battle ground that challenges even the most formidable racers. Marking the tradition of endorsing competitive, world class sporting events, Rolex comes back to support the 24 hours of Daytona as its key sponsor. Rolex’s association with American motor sports racing began almost a decade ago and over the years Rolex has fostered stronger ties with the Grand American Road Racing Association. The Rolex 24 at Daytona is a daunting challenge that takes place at the Daytona International Speedway each year. The crowds throng the stands and bellow out the names of their champions in a fervent mix of music and noise. The rush engulfs the entire circuit and with the common objective of breaking the barriers of human endurance the racers get behind the wheels of these breathtaking cars and rev up the engines. A trial of champions, the Rolex 24 brings to the purview the immense tactical skill, strategizing ability and control of the racers. The 2009 version of the Rolex 24 at Daytona was bound to be a thrilling event and had completely exceeded expectations of even the veteran racing car enthusiasts.

In a thrilling victory David Donohue raced his number 58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley to victory along with his team mates Darren Law, Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia. This win turned out to be an emotional victory for Mark Donohue as this coincided with his father Mark Donohue’s 40^th anniversary of the victory at the same event in 1969. The ace racer David Donohue whizzed passed the champion racer Juan Pablo Montoya with 39 minutes in hand to win the 47^th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona on the 25^th of January. David Donohue and the other members of the team clinched the title in a hard fought battle where the competitors where seconds away from each other in the final lap. Stopping TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing form winning its fourth consecutive premier racing event, Brumos Porsche won its first Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series title. The 2009 event was probably the most riveting race in the history of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the closest margin of victory along with the most finishers in the victory lap. Juan Pablo Montoya in his number one Lexus Riley pressed David Donohue till the last minute, but the tremendous determination that David Donohue possessed gave him the momentum he needed to drive home to victory. The final four racers completed a record number of 735 laps in an incredible display of skill. Joao Barbosa in the number 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley came in third at the Rolex 24.

This incredible race that had Rolex as its key partner saw an amazing turnout as well as extensive media coverage. The 2009 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona culminated into a crescendo of stunning competition between the most skilled racers in the world. Rolex will be back again next year to support this premier racing event as champion from all over the world come to battle each other in an ultimate pursuit of glory.