Jourdain, Servia, Gollin and Gidley to Drive for Doran Racing

Jourdain, Servia, Gollin and Gidley

To Represent Doran Racing and Kodak in Rolex 24 at Daytona

LEBANON, Ohio, Jan. 17 - Doran Racing, the Lebanon, Ohio-based team that is  always  a  favorite  at  the  Rolex  24  at  Daytona  International  Speedway,  has assembled a star-studded driver roster for the 45th edition of the famed race that opens Speedweeks at the Florida track on Jan. 27-28.

This  year  team  owner  Kevin  Doran's  DORAN  JE4  Ford  will  be  driven  in  the twice-around-the-clock  classic  by  Michel  Jourdain  Jr.  of  Huixguilucan, Mexico; Oriol Servia of Pals, Catalonia, Spain and Miami; Fabrizio Gollin of Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, and Memo Gidley, who was born in  La Paz, Mexico and now lives in Novato, Calif. and Sherrills Ford, N.C. The yellow car will carry the colors of the Kodak EasyShare System and the number 77.

Jourdain,  30,  is  well  known  to  fans  for  driving  all  sorts  of  race  cars,  especially NASCAR Busch Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, IndyCars and CART champ  cars.    He's  making  his  second  Rolex  24  start,  as  he  drove  for  Doran Racing here last year and finished seventh.

Servia, 32, who finished second in the Champ Car World Series in 2005 and 11th in that series last year, will be making his second start with Doran Racing and his first appearance in the Rolex 24.  He, Jourdain and Harrison Brix finished eighth in one of the Doran Racing entries in the nine-hour 2006 season finale at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah last September.

Along with co-driver Matteo Bobbi, Gollin, 31, drove in all the Rolex Series races in 2005 with Doran Racing.  He, Bobbi and Didier Theys finished fifth in one of the Doran Racing entries at the 2005 Rolex 24.

Gidley, 36, is making his first start with the team but he ran selected Rolex Series races last year with another team, finishing second in the season finale in Utah mentioned earlier. He won the 2005 Rolex Series season finale in Mexico City. He  also  has  experience  in  champ  cars,  IndyCar,  Atlantics,  SPEED  World Challenge,  Trans-Am  and  a  host  of  other  cars.  He  finished  on  the  podium  in Highcroft Racing's LMP2 car at the Petit Le Mans last October. This will be his fourth Rolex 24.

In  addition  to  being  a  master  engineer  and  car  builder,  team  owner/manager Kevin Doran is an expert in preparing high-performance race cars and keeping them running at speed for 24 hours. He is an excellent race strategist. He also excels at helping his drivers and crew regroup as challenges occur.

The team's record here speaks volumes.

Doran  Racing  and  Chip  Ganassi  Racing  are  tied  for  the  most  top-10  overall finishes  in  this  race  in  the  last  five  years  with  five  each.  (They  are  two  of  29 different  teams  that  can  boast  at  least  one  top-10  Rolex  24  finish  in  that  time span.)  Both  Doran  Racing  and  Chip  Ganassi  Racing  have  one  victory  since 2002, while Doran Racing also has a fourth, a fifth, a seventh and a ninth.

Doran  Racing  fielded  two  cars  in  last  year's  race.    Champ  Car  World  Series champion  Sebastien  Bourdais  qualified  one  of  them  in  fourth  place  last  year, while   another   one   of   the   team's   DORAN   JE4s   driven   by  Jourdain,  Terry Borcheller, Harrison Brix and Forest Barber finished seventh.

Kevin Doran has been in victory lane numerous times at the Rolex 24 in a variety of roles. He's won this event as a crew chief (1986 and 1987), a team member (1989), a team manager (1998 and 2002), a car owner (1998 and 2002) and a car constructor (2004).

The action on Daytona's 3.56-mile road course starts on Thursday, Jan. 25 when the first practice session for the Rolex Series begins at 10 a.m. Qualifying will be held later that day at 3:45 p.m., with the final qualifying session at 11:40 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 26.  There's an autograph session at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27 before the race starts at 1:30 p.m. The Doran Racing team hopes to still be running when the checkered falls at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28.

Those who can't attend can watch 15 of the 24 hours live on TV starting at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 27 on FOX Sports.  Then viewers need to click the remote control to PEE for coverage from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET  that  night.    PEE  will  let  everyone  know  who  made  it  through  the  night when it returns to the airwaves at 6 a.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 28. Its coverage will continue through the checkered flag at 1:30 p.m. ET and the post-race interviews that Sunday afternoon.

Veteran motorsports broadcaster Bob Varsha will host the coverage, with former racers David Hobbs and Dorsey Schroeder providing analysis and Leigh Diffey handling the play-by-play. Patrolling pit road will be veteran broadcasters Brian Till, Calvin Fish, Chris Neville and Mike Johnson.

A total of 28 Daytona Prototypes and 44 GT cars are entered for a field of 72.

Live timing and scoring is planned for grand-am.com, while additional information on the team itself can be found at doranracing.com.

The drivers' pre-race quotes follow:

Memo   Gidley:   "I'm   very   excited   for   this   year's   Daytona   24   and   for   the opportunity to work with Kevin and the Kodak team.  I'm also very excited to be racing for Ford, a company where I have many friends and one that I have had a lot of success with in the past. It is a great race and this year will be my fourth time driving in it.

"I have many ways to prepare for this race because it is long and requires focus for  such  a  long  time  and  under  very  difficult  and  sometimes  hot  conditions.    I have a special Extreme High Heat training program which consists of working out in a room heated to 120 degrees.  I  stress my focus and hydration and push my body to the extreme in this environment.  These are all things that train me to be a better driver in the race car under extreme conditions.  In a one and one-half hour workout session I will sweat out 6 pounds of water and drink approximately a  half-gallon  of  Cytomax  sport  drink  to  keep  hydrated  so  that  I  can  finish  my workout.

"The testing so far in the Kodak car has been productive and satisfying for me. The first time I had met or worked with Kevin was the two-day Homestead test earlier  in  the  month.  I  didn't  know  what  to  expect  but  I    came  away  very impressed  with  Kevin's  knowledge,  and  we  just  seemed  to  work  really  well together.

"The  Daytona  test  was  similar.    We  made  progress  on  the  car  and  the  team worked  hard.    We  still  do  have  some  work  to  do  to  get  the  package  where  it needs to be speed-wise.  However, the key part of success in any race team is this desire and a strong work ethic.  Doran Racing has that, and I'm excited to help them get into victory lane.

"The   strengths   we   have   for   the   race   are  the  ultimate  consistency  of  the Kodak/Doran   team,   the   Ford   motor,   and   having   awesome   drivers.      Oriol, Fabrizio and Michel are not only great drivers but we all seem to have easy-going personalities with the desire to win and we get along really well.

"My plans for the year are to drive Grand Am full time and then fill in my other free weekends with as many ALMS or other series' races as I  can.  I am also planning on driving in a few of the premier karting races around the country for my longtime kart sponsor, Trackmagic Karts."

Fabrizio Gollin: "I'm very happy to be working with my friends at Doran Racing again. This will be my second Rolex 24 race.  In my first one I finished in fifth with Doran Racing.  That was in 2005.

"This year there are more competitors and it will be even harder.  There are a lot of good drivers and big names entered.

"I know we can do a good job.  Our car is not the fastest, but it is consistent and my teammates are professional drivers.  Kevin has a lot of experience in this kind of race, which is invaluable.

"I'm doing a lot of fitness work because the race is long and hard.

"I don't have a program set for the rest of the year, but I'm speaking with a lot of different teams."

Michel Jourdain Jr.: "I feel great about this Daytona 24 Hours. I believe that we are in much better shape than last year. Memo felt like the car was much better at  the  end  of  the  test.    We  still  need  to  improve  some  more,  but  the  most important thing is that I believe that we are in great shape as far as the drivers. I feel like we have four great drivers; we are working well together; and also with Kevin's experience in this race, we should have a shot at it.

"This is only my second 24 Hours of Daytona.

"As for the rest of the year, I will also be running some NASCAR Busch races with  Roush  Racing.  We  should  also  have  another  exciting  announcement  in  a couple of weeks."

Oriol Servia: "I am extremely excited to do the Daytona 24 with Doran Racing. It is my first 24 ever, so being able to have my baptism with somebody like Kevin Doran,  who  has  won  it  many  times,  makes  me  very  lucky  and  gives  me  the chance to learn a lot from him.

"On top of that we have a great driver lineup. There is no weak link there at all, which is not the case in many other teams.

"If we have a trouble-free race I believe that we could be a contender to cross the finish line first after 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds."