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Pirelli opens its second year as exclusive tire supplier to the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series this week at one of the biggest challenges in racing, the 47th Annual Rolex 24. The 24 hour endurance race at Daytona International Speedway in Florida is the inaugural event in the 2009 North American racing season and is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Two-time defending Daytona 24 champions Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Pruett will be joined on this year’s entry list by Scott Dixon, Jimmie Johnson, Dario Franchitti, Danica Patrick, Casey Mears, Buddy Rice, Ryan Briscoe, Kyle Petty and sports car racing champions Andy Wallace, Alex Gurney, Timo Bernhard, Jon Fogarty, Max Angelelli, Romain Dumas, Hurley Haywood, Wayne Taylor, Jorg Bergmeister, Max Papis, Sascha Maassen and others.
Stars from two-wheeled racing and Tinseltown are also part of the event’s mix with motorcycle racing greats Scott Russell, Jeff Ward and Jason Pridmore heading to Daytona in addition to movie and television actor – and emerging racing talent – Patrick Dempsey, star of TV’s Grey’s Anatomy.
However, racing drivers and actors aren’t the only attention-getters. Daytona Prototype and GT race cars in the Sports Car Series are seriously fast, and have high technology to boot. Big name race car builder Dallara has won races in a variety of championships around the world, but this year’s race marks the first time one of the Italian company’s Daytona Prototypes will seek a Rolex 24 title.
Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor won the 2005 Rolex 24 with SunTrust. The duo will be looking for a repeat win and their first in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing with Angelelli’s new primary co-driver for this year’s race, Brian Frisselle, and former Formula 1 driver Pedro Lamy.
“The tires are very consistent and, considering that only one type of tire must fulfill a range of extreme conditions, Pirelli has achieved an exceptional result,” Angelelli says.
They will be joined by a pair of potent Lolas from Krohn Racing that will also be taking a shot at their first Daytona Prototype victory at the track. Even though each car-builder has recorded overall wins in the Rolex 24 in the past, a victory in the ultra-competitive Daytona Prototype class on Pirelli P Zeros would be a stand-alone achievement.
“The Pirelli tires have been performing very consistent and good in testing,” says No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola driver Nic Jonsson, who will co-drive with Darren Turner and former Formula 1 driver Ricardo Zonta. “I do believe Pirelli is giving us a very safe, good and consistent product,” he observes.
“I am really looking forward to working closely with the Pirelli engineers this year to try to get our Krohn Racing Proto-Auto Lola cars up to the front for the whole season,” Jonsson continues. “Pirelli has a lot of track records and wins in the endurance field of motor racing and I’m glad that they have come in to the Grand-Am Rolex Series to supply us with the latest in tire technology and engineering.”
“With Pirelli joining the Rolex Series for the 2008 season, there was a certain excitement brought back into the on-track action,” says Andrew Davis, driver of the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac. “Last year’s tire complemented the Stevenson Motorsports BryanMark Financial Pontiac GXP.R perfectly, and certainly played a significant role in helping us to a strong second place finish in the 2008 GT championship. I am very pleased to see that Pirelli has been working so hard during the off-season to create an even better product for the 2009 season.”
The Rolex 24 starts ticking off at 3:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 24, with live coverage on the Fox network beginning at 3 p.m. Fox will broadcast the opening 90 minutes of the race before the Speed Channel takes over for the balance of the broadcast.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
