Grand-Am Rolex: Pontiac Teams Prepared For Laguna Seca
May 14, 2008
Detroit, Mich., – Pontiac Grand-Am teams are headed west to take on the rolling terrain of Laguna Seca in round five of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 to be run at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca May 17. Stevenson Motorsports will be going or their third win in as many races with their Pontiac GXP.R.
The 2.2-mile, 11-turn road course featuring the downhill Cork Screw turn will be the next challenge for the 13 Pontiac powered cars this weekend. The 2007 race was not kind to the Pontiac contingent. The top placing Daytona Prototype (DP) was fourth, SAMAX, with the top placing GT Pontiac coming fourth, Banner No. 07.
The Stevenson Motorsports team is carrying a two race win streak to the Monterey Peninsula. Drivers Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis have stood atop the podium in Mexico City and at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The team from North Carolina is looking for the hat-trick this weekend.
“Laguna Seca should be a great track for the Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R,” Davis said. “We have a lot of momentum coming into this event with the recent victories, but our focus is on continuous improvement as a team. The Rolex Series is more competitive than ever, and now is not the time for us to quit fighting. We need to continue to execute our plan in a flawless manner in order to match the results from the previous two events. The Laguna Seca circuit will suit the GXP.R quite nicely. However, front grip has traditionally been a difficult thing to find at Laguna. I think it will be very important for us to work to a set-up that will maximize grip levels at the front of the car. This will certainly be a task with the limited amount of track time that we get before the race. Although I consider Laguna Seca to be a fast circuit, it will be an advantage to the Pontiacs to get away from the tracks that have extremely long straights.”
In the No. 06 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R Chris Prey the winner of the reality racing TV show Setup II will drive with racer and team owner Leighton Reese. Prey will be making his Grand-Am debut as a part of his winnings from the show.
“Chris was over my house this past weekend and I had him on my simulator and he was running fast Laguna laps,” Reese said. “You see all these guys coming up from karting and open-wheel looking for drives. Unfortunately, the faster the car goes the less opportunities exist. Between my team and GM we made the deal happen with Chris. If this helps Chris get a boost in racing career, that would be great. He did a good job on the show. He got the car to the front without hurting it. One or two things can right on a race weekend and everything else can go wrong. Hopefully he can start strong and I can back him up and get us on the podium. I am optimistic on having a great race.”
Banner 07 drivers Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards lead the GT point standings. The duo has finished no worse than fourth place this season with a win at Homestead. Last year Laguna had the pair fourth, but they are ready to return back to the top step of the podium.
“I expect nothing but good results from the team at Laguna,” Collins said. “We are going to get our edge back, get the whip out and keep our focus on the championship. We’ve had some tiny mistakes in the last few races that have cost us the top positions. The GXP.R should be a good car at Laguna. The Pratt & Miller guys work hard on the setup there. It has been a tough place for us in the past. The track is very smooth, billiard table like. You need to have a car that is good in the low to mid-speed corners, not pushing or loose, and be able to put the power down. Traffic with DP cars is horrid at Laguna. There are some many transitions, too many places for them to stick their noses in. I anticipate about three full course cautions. The sand traps are right off the edge to track and bury the cars. The driving is getting wild, reckless and rowdy this time of the season.”
Autohaus Motorsports drivers Lawson Aschenbach and Tim Lewis Jr. are fourth in the driver standings. The Florida pair is looking to get up on the podium for the first time this season and Laguna Seca could be that opportunity.
“I am very excited about going to Laguna,” Aschenbach said. “I have raced there a lot the past couple of years. The team is really coming together and everyone shares my excitement. We need to have a good weekend, and get rid of our random problems. We need a good finish. I think we have reached the end of our random issues. The team is ready to put together a clean weekend. Tim and I have the speed and we have the team support, but the top 10 GT are tough and one little mistake can cost you. We are anxious for the next couple of races. The stretch of tracks coming up I know well and am looking forward to running.”
PR1 Motorsports will run their third race of the year at Laguna Seca. Mike Forest and Thomas Merrill partnered for the teams first outing at Homestead. The team finished 10th at VIR and are headed toward the front of the GT field with every race entered. The former open-wheel drivers and team are coming to grips with the GXP.R and sportscar racing.
“Now having two races in the Grand-Am series I have learned many things about sports car racing,” Forest said. “One would be the differences between the cars. The Pontiac GXP-R is known for its low end torque, which certainly was a big help when we were forced to run without the low gears last event. Another difference between open-wheel and sportscar racing would be how tight the racing is in Grand-Am. Running a sportscar where there is considerably less downforce allows for much closer racing with your competitors because the car does not become unstable when in the draft of a lead car. Having the Daytona Prototypes adds a lot to the racing as well, having to be mindful of not only your own race but the one that is coming from behind requires additional focus. Despite our difficulties with the transmission and loss of gears one through three at VIR I felt it was an improved result over Homestead. Laguna Seca will be the first Grand-Am event I’ve been to where the track will be familiar, which should be a big help. It will allow more time to refine our approach, as opposed to building from the ground up. With our improved success from Homestead to Virginia I feel that we can have a very solid result at Laguna Seca and keep fighting our way to becoming a front running team.”
The Riley-Matthews Daytona Prototype (DP) team of Marc Goossens and Jim Matthews has carried on where they left off at the end of the 2007 season. The duo won the last race of 07 and have logged a win at Mexico City, placed eighth at the Rolex 24, came fourth at Homestead-Miami Speedway and added a third place at VIR. The team from North Carolina is second in DP points.
