Grand Am Series Added to Infineon Raceway Schedule in 2006

 

SONOMA, Calif.- Infineon Raceway and Grand American
Road Racing Association officials announced today that the
highly-competitive Rolex Sports Car Series will tackle the Sonoma Valley
road course for the first time next summer, combining with the IRL
IndyCar(r) Series to offer Northern California fans an unparalleled
weekend of road-racing action.

 

Raceway and IRL officials also confirmed that the IndyCar(r) Series will
return to the Sonoma County road course next summer, Aug. 25-27, 2006.

 

The Rolex Series, which includes classes for Daytona Prototypes and
production-based GT sports cars, will come to Infineon Raceway for the
first time since its inception in 2000 and will be the featured event on
Saturday of the 2006 weekend.  

 

"Since renovating this facility, it has been our mission to offer fans
in Northern California the widest possible variety of motor racing
action," said Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon
Raceway.  "The Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series delivers some of
the most consistently competitive racing of any series on any kind of
track and the combination of Rolex Sports Cars and IndyCars(r) next
summer is going to make for a dream weekend at this raceway."

 

The Rolex Series is headlined by the Daytona Prototype category that in
only its third-year of competition has led the growth in Grand American
Road Racing's popularity. 

 

 The class features exotic, thoroughbred racecars that reach top speeds
in excess of 185 mph and popular drivers like Californians Scott Pruett
(Loomis), Memo Gidley (Novato) and second-generation star Alex Gurney
(Los Angeles), in addition to Christian Fittipaldi, Max Angelelli, Andy
Wallace, Stefan Johansson, Wayne Taylor, Max Papis, Butch Leitzinger,
Milka Duno, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and dozens more.  Pruett and Papis
are the reigning Daytona Prototype co-champions.  

 

The GT class makes up the other half of the Rolex Series lineup and
features race-prepared versions of today's popular international and
American-made high-performance sports cars and coupes such as the BMW
M3, Porsche GT3 and the Pontiac GTO.  Several top Californians also
compete in GT including Justin Marks, Joey Hand and reigning GT champion
Bill Auberlen.  Rolex Series events typically feature well in excess of
40 entries - Daytona Prototype and GT combined - creating competitive
on-track action and the traditional "race within a race" sports car
format.

 

            "We're obviously thrilled to add another world-class road
course in Infineon Raceway to our 2006 Rolex Series calendar," Grand
American President Roger Edmondson said. "Together with events at
California Speedway and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the addition of
Infineon Raceway creates a California 'Triple Crown' of sorts and allows
us to reach even more sports car fans on the West Coast. We expect that
our event will provide race fans in the Sonoma Valley with the
hotly-contested brand of sports car racing they so richly deserve."

 

            This weekend's Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix marks the
first event on a permanent road course in the 10-year history of the
IRL.

 

"The fans and media in the Northern California region have embraced the
IndyCar(r) Series," said Ken Ungar, senior vice president of business
affairs for the IRL. "There has been an incredible amount of interest
about the IndyCar(r) Series event at Infineon Raceway ever since we made
the schedule announcement last year. We're looking forward to a great
weekend, and are very excited about returning to Sonoma next year.
Moving forward, we hope this race will become a premier event on the
IndyCar(r) Series schedule."

            

The Rolex and IRL currently race together at Homestead-Miami Speedway
and will also be part of a doubleheader weekend next month at Watkins
Glen (N.Y.) where the IRL will make its debut.