GRAND AM (DAYTONA) - Rolex Series GT Teams Go Cross-Country

After completing Round 5 of their 13-race 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve GT schedule last Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the teams and drivers loaded up and headed east for Monday’s Round 6, the Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park (SPEED, 3:00 p.m. ET).

While much was made of the Rolex Series Daytona Prototype class celebrating its fifth different winner in five races this season, the GT class saw its fourth different winner in five races in last Saturday’s U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express when Andy Lally and RJ Valentine co-drove their No. 66 TRG Porsche GT3 to the victory over No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 co-drivers Bryce Miller and Dirk Werner.

The victory for Lally and Valentine gives the duo some momentum heading to something of a “hometown” event for each driver. Lally is a native of Northport, N.Y. on Long Island, while Valentine hails from Hingham, Mass. and both would love nothing more than to score a second consecutive victory at Lime Rock Park. Lally also enters the race as its defending champion, taking the victory with then-co-driver Marc Bunting last year en route to the 2006 Rolex Series GT co-championship.

Miller and Werner, meanwhile, head to Lime Rock riding a two-race podium streak which includes their first career Rolex Series GT victory in the VIR 400 last month and a second-place performance last weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Werner currently finds himself just 12 points in arrears of GT points co-leaders Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham, 152-140, while Miller is ranked sixth in the GT championship with 128 points.

No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 co-drivers Tremblay and Ham are the only team to have more than one GT victory this season, taking back-to-back triumphs in the March events at Mexico City and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Those victories and a second-place run in the VIR 400 vaulted Tremblay and Ham to a healthy lead in the GT driver standings, but a seventh-place performance at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca allowed Werner to make up some ground in the championship. Nevertheless, Tremblay and Ham have been consistently fast everywhere this season and a return trip to Victory Lane at Lime Rock Park is a strong possibility.

Also not to be overlooked are No. 22 Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 co-drivers Jean-Francois Dumoulin and Carlos de Quesada, who claimed the GT class victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. Dumoulin and de Quesada have finished inside the top 12 class positions in all five races this season.

Among those who haven’t yet won and could break through this weekend are the No. 85 Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 pairing of Dominik Farnbacher and Leh Keen. The No. 85 co-drivers have been just as fast—and sometimes faster—than teammates Miller and Werner in the No. 87 machine, and were poised to make it a 1-2 finish for the team in the VIR 400 before an off-course excursion damaged Farnbacher’s radiator in the closing stages of the race.

No. 07 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R co-drivers Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins are also constant threats to win any Rolex Series GT race and Lime Rock Park should be no exception. Edwards and Collins are part of a two-car Banner Racing program that also includes the No. 06 Pontiac GXP.R for Tim Lewis Jr. and team owner/driver Leighton Reese.

In addition to the No. 66, No. 87, No. 85 and No. 22 teams, strong Porsche entries can also be found in the hands of Doncaster Racing, Tafel Racing, At Speed Motorsports and Synergy Racing, as well as another entry from TRG. Co-driving the No. 17 Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3 will be Greg and Mark Wilkins. Greg Wilkins has finished inside the top-nine class positions in four of the first five races, while his son, Mark, has competed in every Daytona Prototype race this season with AIM Autosport and is making his first GT class appearance of the season this weekend.

Tafel Racing will field the No. 72 Porsche GT3 for co-drivers Nathan Swartzbaugh and Andrew Davis, and the No. 74 Porsche GT3 for 19-year-old Eric Lux and multiple-time GT race winner Wolf Henzler. At Speed Motorsports is fielding the No. 28 Porsche GT3 for Bob Miller and 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona GT winner Ian Baas, while Synergy Racing will have former NFL tight end Steve Johnson and a to-be-named co-driver in its’ No. 81 Porsche GT3. Mark Greenberg and Spencer Pumpelly complete a strong, two-car entry for TRG in the No. 67 Porsche GT3.

Filling out an impressive, 22-car GT field will be Tom Nastasi and Alex Tagliani in the No. 15 Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang Cobra GT, James Gue and Mark Pavan in the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R, the No. 35 Playboy Racing/Unitech Nissan 350Z with entered drivers Tommy Constantine, David Murry and Mike Borkowski, the No. 36 Competition Marketing Motorsports Pontiac GTO of Nick DiMeo, Peter Doane and Manny Matz, a pair of Pontiac GTOs and a Chevrolet Corvette from Team Sahlen to be shared between Joe Sahlen and Joe, Will and Wayne Nonnamaker, the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette of Bunting and Dominic Cicero II, and the No. 69 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Nick Longhi and Emil Assentato.

The race weekend festivities get underway on Friday with Rolex Series GT practice, with practice and qualifying slated for Saturday. The green flag will drop on the Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park at 1:45 p.m. ET on Monday afternoon.

SPEED will provide television coverage of the Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park on a slight tape delay with coverage set to air beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Monday. Live coverage from throughout the weekend, including audio webcasts and Live Timing & Scoring is also available on the official web site of Grand-Am, www.grand-am.com.

Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park Storylines

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 22, 2007) – Heading into this weekend’s Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park, Round 6 of the 14-race 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve for the GT class (SPEED, Tape Delay, 3 p.m. ET Monday, May 28), here are some pre-race notes, story angles and interesting trends to follow:

STREAKS: In the GT class, there has been at least one Porsche on the GT podium in the last 11 Rolex Series events… Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham have teamed to win two of the last four GT class races… Farnbacher Loles Motorsports teammates Bryce Miller and Dirk Werner have finished on the podium in the last two races… Two teams of drivers have posted top 10s in all four GT class races, with Ham and Tremblay won two of the first three races and finished no worse than seventh in their first five starts. The seventh-place result came last weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins have a best finish of second (Daytona), and are currently tied for fourth in the GT point standings.

LIME ROCK LOCALS: Ten drivers from the tri-state area are entered for the Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park, with only one driver from Connecticut is scheduled to compete and many drivers from the New York and Massachusetts ready to tackle the 1.53-mile track. Tom Nastasi of Stamford will compete in the No. 15 USG Sheetrock/Guardian Insulation Mustang Cobra GT, sharing the ride with Canadian Alex Tagliani. Six drivers from The Empire State are competing, including No. 36 Competition Marking Motorsports Pontiac GTO co-driver Manny Matz (Somers), car owner/driver of the Team Sahlen HRPworld.com Pontiac GTO Joe Sahlen (Elma), No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8 teammates Emil Assentato (Locust Valley) and Nick Longhi (Nyack) and No. 74 Tafel Racing Rembrandt Charms Porsche GT3 co-driver Eric Lux (Williamsville). Northport, N.Y. native Andy Lally in the No. 66 TRG CRG/Maxter Porsche GT3, who co-drove in last weekend’s GT class race win at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, will again be paired with Massachusetts co-driver RJ Valentine (Braintree), and their Massachusetts teammate, Mark Greenberg (Jamaica Plain), will co-drive the No. 67 TRG NETTTS/Louis Boston Porsche GT3 with Virginian Spencer Pumpelly.

MILESTONES: This will be the third straight weekend for the Rolex Series GT class will run on its own, as the series competed on its own at Virginia International Raceway and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and will headline this weekend’s festivities. Farnbacher Loles Motorsports’ two-car team has led 45 percent of the 976 laps contested in GT action this season, but has only one victory in five rounds.

Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park Fast Facts

Who: Grand American Road Racing Association

What: Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve GT Class

Where: Lime Rock Park – Lakeville, Conn.

When: Monday, May 28, 2007 – 1:45 p.m. ET

TV: SPEED, Taped, 3 p.m. ET Monday

Schedule of Events:

(All times local, Eastern Time)

Thursday, May 24

11:00 AM Rolex Teams Rig Parking

1:00 PM KONI Teams Rig Parking

8:00 PM Paddock Closes

Friday, May 25

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Practice – Rolex Series GT

10:45 AM - 11:15 AM Practice – KONI Challenge ST

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Practice – KONI Challenge GS

12:15 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch Break

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM Practice – Rolex Series GT

2:30 PM - 3:15 AM Practice – KONI Challenge ST

3:30 PM - 4:15 PM Practice – KONI Challenge GS

4:30 PM - 5:00 PM Practice – World Challenge Touring

8:00 PM Paddock Closed

Saturday, May 26

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Practice – KONI Challenge ST

9:45 AM - 10:15 AM Practice – Rolex Series GT

10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Autograph Session – KONI Challenge Series Drivers

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM World Challenge Touring

11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Autograph Session – Rolex Series GT Drivers

11:15 AM - 11:45 AM Practice – KONI Challenge GS

12:00 PM - 12:15 PM Qualifying – KONI Challenge ST

12:15 PM - 1:15 PM Lunch Break

1:15 PM – 1:30 PM Qualifying – Rolex Series GT

1:45 PM – 2:00 PM Qualifying – KONI Challenge GS

2:10 PM Pre-race Ceremonies and recon laps – KONI Challenge ST

2:15 PM – 4:45 PM START – KONI Challenge ST Race

(400k – 163 laps - 2 ½ hour time limit)

5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Qualifying – World Challenge Touring

8:00 PM Paddock Closed

Sunday, May 27

NO ON-TRACK ACTIVITIES

Monday, May 28

9:00 AM - 9:15 AM Practice – KONI Challenge GS

9:30 AM - 9:45 AM Practice – Rolex Series GT

9:35 AM Pre-race Ceremonies and recon laps – KONI Challenge GS

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM START – KONI Challenge GS Race

(400k – 163 laps - 2 ½ hour time limit)

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Lunch Break

1:40 PM Pre-race Ceremonies and recon laps – Rolex Series GT Race

1:45 PM - 4:15 PM START – KONI Challenge GS Race

(400k – 163 laps - 2 ½ hour time limit)