Het gaat goed met Grand Am

[Raceboy]

The pre-entry list for next month's Phoenix 250 at Phoenix International Raceway was announced today, with 40 cars slated to compete in round three of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series.

The impressive line-up is nearly three times the number on last year's pre-entry list for the race, continuing the explosive growth experienced by the Rolex Series this season.

Eighteen Daytona Prototypes are on tap for the 250-mile race under the lights, Saturday, April 10, more than four times the number Daytona Prototypes at last year's event. Among the strong contingent is Hurley Haywood and JC France, who will try to defend last year's win in the Brumos Racing #59 Porsche Fabcar.

With the tremendous growth in the Daytona Prototype class, the Brumos Racing squad will face some fierce competition in its defense of last year's win. Among the new arrivals to the series gunning for their first victory is CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing with its pair of Lexus Rileys, SunTrust Racing with a Pontiac Riley and Michael Shank Racing with a Lexus Doran. Another new team to the series, Howard-Boss Motorsports, will look to make it two-in-a-row after its win at the Grand Prix of Miami last month. The team will field the #2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford and #4 The Boss Snowplow Pontiac Crawford.

In addition to several new Rolex Series teams making their west-coast debut at the Phoenix 250, race fans will see some familiar faces from seasons past now in the Daytona Prototypes class. Doran-Lista Racing will be on hand with its #27 Lexus Doran, Spirit of Daytona Racing will field a Pontiac Riley, and SpeedSource will race its pair of Ford Multimatics.

The four teams that put on a thrilling door-banging display at last year's Phoenix 250 will also be back in the fray this year. Brumos Racing's #59 Porsche will once again battle against the Red Bull Brumos Racing #58 Porsche Fabcar, G&W Motorsports #80 BMW Picchio and Kodak Bell Motorsports #54 Pontiac Doran, which won this year's Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Other Daytona Prototypes teams throwing their hat in the hotly contested race include Essex Racing with a Ford Multimatic, Silverstone Racing Services with a Pontiac Crawford, Southard Motorsports with a BMW Fabcar and Rx.com G&W Motorsports with a BMW Doran piloted by last year's GT winners, Brent Martini and Cort Wagner, with Kelly Collins.

In addition to the impressive Daytona Prototypes line-up for the Phoenix 250, the pre-entry list also includes 10 GT cars and 12 SGS cars. A strong contingent of Porsches is represented in both classes, led by the Rolex 24 At Daytona class winners - Orbit Racing in the GT class and Doncaster Racing in SGS.

Coming off of the GT win in Miami, Prototype Technology Group will try to repeat its success with its two BMW M3s. However, Ferrari of Washington will be aiming to defend its GT win from last season, this time with a Maserati. Honda of America Racing Team will also debut its new Acura NSX in the GT class at the Phoenix 250.

The pre-entry list for the Phoenix 250 is available online at www.grandamerican.com. Tickets for round three of the Rolex Series are available at www.phoneixraceway.com.


bron:crash.net