Grand Am Announces Koni Challenge 2010 Schedule

DAYTONA BEACH, October 16, 2009: Ten races, spanning across the U.S. and Canada, will make up the 2010 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge schedule, which Grand-Am Road Racing announced today.

Nine of those races will be held in conjunction with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. The single stand-alone race is the popular Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières in Quebec, Canada.

The 2010 schedule will kick off with the Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway. The season opener will be during the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend, scheduled for Jan. 29-31, and will consist of several fan-friendly events, such as the return of the grid fan walk, behind-the-scenes paddock access and car club activities, which will be included in all events throughout the season. Newly-crowned Grand Sport (GS) champion Ken Wilden and Street Tuner (ST) titlist Christian Miller are expected to begin defense of their 2009 crowns at Daytona.

The series finale, traditionally held at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Va., will be held in conjunction with the Rolex Series finale Sept. 11-12 at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. VIR will host the KONI Challenge on April 24-25. Tracks with new race weekends are Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., with the traditionally-held July race moving to April 10-11, and New Jersey Motorsports Park, in Millville, N.J., will host the event July 17-18.

The annual Memorial Day Weekend races (May 29-31) at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., return as the 1.53-mile track hosts the Rolex Series Daytona Prototype class for the first time. Watkins Glen International (June 5-6) in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (June 19-20) in Lexington, Ohio, remain on the same weekends as the 2009 schedule.

The annual Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières (Aug. 14-16) in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, the only race this season in Canada, will host the KONI Challenge once again, but this time featuring a combined format racing into dusk Friday evening, displaying an incredible show of sports cars under the city lights. KONI Challenge practice in 2009 was the first time in event history cars drove under the lights.