Grand Am Prototype - SunTrust Looks To Make it Three Wins In A Row

ELKHART LAKE, June 22, 2011: When it comes to the uncertainties of competing on a racetrack for the very first time, the SunTrust Racing driving duo of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor have just one thing to say: “Bring it on!”

The winners of the last two GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series races at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International head to historic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., for the first time this weekend while the Rolex Series is racing there for the first time since 2001. And, as Angelelli and Taylor look to give SunTrust its first three-race winning streak since it joined the Rolex Series in 2004, they know full well that the No. 10 racing machine has earned quite a few first-place trophies and a whole host of podium finishes in its inaugural seasons on a vast array of racetracks.

Just last year, when the Rolex Series added Lime Rock to its Daytona Prototype-class schedule, Angelelli and Taylor scored a thoroughly dominating win, marking the fifth time the SunTrust team had snatched the top spot on the podium in its first year at a new track. In 2007, when the Rolex Series visited Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the first time, Angelelli and his then-co-driver Jan Magnussen were victorious. Add to that a trio of race wins during SunTrust’s inaugural 2004 Rolex Series season – Phoenix International Raceway in April, Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July, and in October at Virginia International Raceway in Alton – and it’s clear the SunTrust team is blessed either with a heaping helping of beginner’s luck, or a huge penchant for learning new tracks more quickly than most.

Six other times, the SunTrust team earned podium finishes in its first-year runs at a racetrack – second at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville in 2008, second at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2005, second at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., in 2004, second in the September 2004 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, second in the 2004 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, and third in the August 2004 sprint race at Watkins Glen.

The beautiful setting for Saturday’s two-hour Rolex Sports Car Series 250 Driven by Visit Florida – the prelude to that afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Bucyrus 200 – is one of the oldest racetracks in America. The 4-mile, 14-turn circuit, with its long straightaways, challenging mix of slow- and high-speed corners, and its Old World charm, has been hosting the biggest names in road racing from around the world since 1955. Even NASCAR’s Grand National Series, as it was known then, last raced there in 1956 before returning after a 54-year hiatus with its Nationwide Series in 2010, and it put on quite a show.

Having previously raced at Road America once each, Angelelli, the veteran Italian, and Taylor, the 21-year-old mechanical engineering major from the University of Central Florida, know what’s in store for them this weekend. Angelelli started third and finished fifth for Team Cadillac in a 2004 SCCA World Challenge race. Taylor ran a pair of races during a 2007 Skip Barber National Series weekend, winning the first and retiring from the second with mechanical issues.

While it will be their first time on the historic layout in the No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing, both drivers agree it is eerily similar to the Watkins Glen long course, where Angelelli and Taylor thoroughly dominated for six solid hours at Watkins Glen three weekends ago, starting from the pole and leading a race-high 128 of 174 laps en route to their second consecutive victory.

It was only the third time SunTrust has scored back-to-back Rolex Series wins, the last two coming during Angelelli and team owner Wayne Taylor’s championship run in 2005. Angelelli and Ricky Taylor are counting on Saturday’s first-ever race at Road America to be a first in yet another sense for the SunTrust team – the place where it achieves its first-ever three-race winning streak.

Practice for Saturday’s Rolex Sports Car Series 250 begins Thursday afternoon with qualifying set for 3:35 p.m. EDT Friday. Race time for the two-hour event is noon Saturday with live television coverage provided by SPEED, and live radio coverage beginning at 11:45 a.m. on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Channel 94. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and now on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com.

Max Angelelli, Co-Driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Chevrolet Dallara:

What is your outlook heading to Road America after back-to-back wins at Lime Rock and Watkins Glen?

“It’s been good to have a couple of weeks off to enjoy the wins. I wanted so badly to be able to race head-to-head with the 01 (Ganassi) car. I’ve always felt that we’ve had everything in place to do so, but now it looks like we’ve got it right. We made no little mistakes the last two races. When everything works like that, you perform well and you win. Now, we need to keep the momentum going. Road America is fast, more or less, based on my one race there in the SCCA World Challenge Series in 2004. I have some memories of a couple of corners, but not many. On paper, it’s going to be good for our car. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s more or less the same type of track as Watkins Glen. It’s definitely European in style. Our car this year has suited all the tracks. It’s not like that it’s only good at some tracks.”

After watching the Ganassi team win race after race the last year and a half, how does it feel to have a streak of your own?

“In a sense, it’s safe to say we broke the Ganassi domination. We definitely did. But the question is, will we be able to maintain this level of performance or not? In my opinion, it’s difficult to win because the championship is very competitive. I feel that, yes, we will win again, but not every race. It’s really difficult. It’s still going to be between the 01 (Ganassi), the 10 (SunTrust) and the 99 (Gainsco) teams every single race for the win. Those three cars. The others we need to look out for are the 5 and the 9 (Action Express Racing) cars.”

Ricky Taylor, Co-Driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Chevrolet Dallara:

You’re heading to Road America after two straight wins, and the track there is very similar in characteristics to Watkins Glen, where you had a very strong racecar in winning from the pole. What are your expectations?

“I think there’s nothing about Road America that doesn’t suit our car, really. It’s just going to be another race for us, though. I think, because the laps there are so long, you’re not going to get a lot of laps in practice. In qualifying, especially, there’s going to be a lot of strategy involved. It’s such a long track that, if a yellow comes out during qualifying, it’s going to shorten the session a good bit. So, because it’s such a long track, a big part of what we do will be managing the weekend.”

You won a Skip Barber National Series race at Road America in 2007. How will that experience translate to your effort this weekend?

“I think, after driving a Skip Barber car, there, it was definitely a lot of fun to race on that track. Obviously, it’ll be a completely different track in a DP (Daytona Prototype) – the speed difference and the downforce is 180 degrees different from a Barber car. There will be a lot of things to learn as soon as we get there. It’s definitely one of the most famous tracks in America and a lot of fun. With such long straights and hard braking at the end of the straights, it’s going to be really exciting for the fans. It’s going to be some great racing.”

Do you feel like back-to-back wins by the SunTrust team signals an end to the Ganassi team’s domination the last year and a half?

“I don’t know about breaking their domination. We put a full two races together without any issues, and we didn’t make any mistakes. We also found some things with the car that have led us in a new direction that’ll help for the rest of the year. But, having put together two perfect races is going to help our momentum moving forward, and we know exactly what we need to do to try and repeat those last two results over and over – not making mistakes, good pit stops, strategy that is perfect. We’re definitely in a groove.”

Wayne Taylor, Team Owner of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Chevrolet Dallara:

What are your overall thoughts about heading to Road America for the first time with the Rolex Series?

“I’m really looking forward to going there. I haven’t been there since 1993. I’m shocked that it’s been 18 years. I really like that track. I’d put it on a par with Watkins Glen. It’s a really nice road course. The straights are so incredibly long. Set-up wise, it’s somewhere between Watkins Glen and Daytona. We’ve made such a big breakthrough with the car this year. For the first time, we have been fast at every race whereas, in the last couple of years, we’ve been fast at some places and not so fast at others. Brian (Pillar), our engineer, has done a great job making us fast everywhere we go.”

You’ve had a couple of weekends off since winning back-to-back at Lime Rock and Watkins Glen. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing, in terms of momentum?

“It’s been nice to take a bit of a break. Those last two races were back-to-back with not too much time in-between. Like Ricky and Max have said, we didn’t have too much time to enjoy the win at Lime Rock. So, winning at Watkins Glen made it that much more special, and the break let us enjoy it all for a good, long while.”

A lot of Rolex Series followers are saying you’ve brought the Ganassi dominance to an end. What’s your take on that?

“I just think we should’ve won more races than we’ve actually won during the time Ganassi has dominated. This year, alone, I think we shot ourselves in the foot at Barber. VIR was okay, we just gambled and it didn’t work out. But I knew going into 24-hour that we should have all ingredients to win races. It just took a bit longer. Now, I’m very confident that we can continue to win races and be competitive.”