While TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates has been among the handful of teams participating in a two-day Riley test at Daytona International Speedway, the team – which has won the past two Rolex 24s – also finalized its driver lineups for the 46th anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Behind the wheel of the No. 01 TELMEX/Target Daytona Prototype will be Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. Driving the No. 02 Target/TELMEX Daytona Prototype will Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Salvador Duran and Alex Lloyd.
When tallying the championships on the roster, Chip Ganassi Racing’s driving teams are represented by three Indy 500 champions (Montoya-2000, Wheldon-2005 and Franchitti-2007), five open-wheel championships (Montoya-1999, Dixon-2003, Wheldon-2005, Lloyd-2007 and Franchitti-2007), two Daytona Prototype championships (Pruett-2004 and 2006) and five former Rolex 24 winners.
Pruett, who along with Rojas wrapped up a two-day test on Tuesday at DIS, is thrilled with the driving rosters put together by owner Chip Ganassi for the Rolex 24.
“(Chip’s) stable is just full of a lot of talent on the NASCAR side, on the IRL side, on the Grand-Am side, ” said Pruett during the lunch break on Tuesday. “For us coming here with this commitment and this organization is going to be nothing less than stellar. We’re going to go for the win. ”
Pruett and Rojas spent Monday and Tuesday at “The World Center of Racing” fine tuning their Lexus Riley after struggling during the Grand-Am November Test Days at DIS. Despite having their day cut short Tuesday after Rojas ran off course in the chicane causing front end damage, Pruett was happy about the team’s progress as the prestigious sports car race approaches.
“We had a lot of problems at the earlier test, ” Pruett said. “We just didn’t get much track time at all. In fact, we only got about a half of a day running. We opted to come back here and it’s been very valuable learning a lot about what the car wants with the new Pirelli tires. ”
“We’re in full race trim. We’ve got everything in the car that we’ll need for the race. We’re simulating like we’re coming here racing and we’re pleased with how fast we are. ”
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