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Grand am prototype - angelelli and taylor looking forward to belleisle by efwegbe erergeer
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Grand am prototype - angelelli and taylor looking forward to belleisle |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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Grand Am Prototype - Angelelli And Taylor Looking Forward To BelleIsle DETROIT, May 31, 2012: If good things truly do happen in threes,then the SunTrust Racing driver duo of Max Angelelli and RickyTaylor, winners of the last two GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Seriesraces, will gladly be the ones spraying victory champagne again atthe conclusion of Saturday's inaugural Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200on Detroit's resurrected Belle Isle temporary street circuit. Back-to-back wins at Homestead-Miami Speedway in April and threeweekends ago at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville havevaulted the veteran Angelelli, the 22-year-old Taylor and the No.10 SunTrust Corvette Dallara DP team of Wayne Taylor Racing towithin four points of the Rolex Series championship lead headinginto the latest stretch on the schedule that has them taking to thetrack for four races over the next five weekends. First of those is Saturday's two-hour sprint race on the2.1-mile, 14-turn Belle Isle street circuit that – thanks topromoters Roger Penske and Bud Denker – is hosting big-timeauto racing for the first time since 2008, and the Rolex Series forthe first time ever. Thusly, a vast majority of the Rolex Seriescompetitors, including Angelelli and Taylor, have never set a tiretread on the fast but tricky layout on which legendary drivers withnames including Fittipaldi, Andretti, Rahal, Sullivan, Zanardi,Franchitti and Castroneves have driven their Indy-style racecars tovictory dating back to the first event there in 1989.
Considering the challenge of having to learn and excel at a newrace venue in relatively short order, the SunTrust team has quite alot going in its favor at Belle Isle, not the least of which is thefact it is riding a two-race winning streak. Since joining the Rolex Series in 2004, the SunTrust team has arather successful history in first-time visits to racetracks. In 19first-time appearances at a racetrack for Rolex Series sprintraces, the team has scored 10 podium finishes, including fivevictories – Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. (2010),Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (2007), VirginiaInternational Raceway in Alton (2004), Phoenix InternationalRaceway (2004), and Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (Julyrace 2004).
Overall, the SunTrust team's average finishing position thefirst time it has seen a racetrack for a Rolex Series sprint raceis 4.4. For the veteran Angelelli, who has been there for all ofthem, just call him a quick study. And Angelelli's youngco-driver Taylor, who's already qualified on the pole ninetimes the past two-plus seasons and collaborated with him on sixRolex Series wins, he's proven to be not too bad at learningthings quickly, too. Practice for Saturday's two-hour Chevrolet GRAND-AM 250– part of the weekend's IZOD IndyCar Series ChevroletBelle Isle Grand Prix festivities – begins Friday morningwith qualifying set for 5:05 0.m. EDT.
Race time Saturday is 5 p.m.with SPEED carrying the television broadcast live. Live radio bythe Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 117 begins witha 15-minute pre-race show at 4:45 p.m. Live timing and scoringduring all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com , and on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com/laptrax. Max Angelelli, co-driver of the No.
10 SunTrust Racing CorvetteDallara DP: You'll be getting your first look at the Belle Isle circuitwhen you arrive there this weekend. What have you been able to doto prepare? "I have zero first-hand knowledge of the track. I'vebeen looking at videos of the track with the boys, Ricky and Jordan(Taylor). We'll see when we get there.
It's a lot ofcorners, long straights. I'll need to see it to understandit. The event, racing in Detroit, on Belle Isle, there is a littlebit of history there, it's good. I want to say thanks toChevrolet and GRAND-AM for making this happen. It's a goodnew venue for us, and new venues are always exciting, especiallythis one." You'll be qualifying the SunTrust Corvette DP this weekendand starting the race.
Considering it's a brand new circuit– a street circuit – does that put you on the hot seata little more than usual? "You just need to be extra careful. Low-percentage passes arenot suggested. But, anyway, everybody will be in the same boat. Ithink it's going to be a very exciting race becauseit's going to be short and we will be pushing from beginningto end.
It will definitely be interesting. This time will be mytime to qualify and start the race. Pressure or no pressure becauseof that will make no difference. I qualify at Daytona, so Idon't think there will be any more pressure than that." You're back in serious championship contention after twostraight wins. How will that affect things for you this weekend? "I prefer not to think about the championship, for now, for acouple of reasons.
First, it's very early in the season.Second, there are many competitors in the championship who want tobeat us. It's just way too early. This is the beauty ofGRAND-AM. A lot of years, you can point to certain cars and say,‘This is the one that is going to win thechampionship.' But this year, we have many good cars that areall probably going to score wins. We have nine races to go and wewill need to win other races to win this championship, that'sfor sure.
Otherwise, it's way too early to try to predictwhat is going to happen." Ricky Taylor, co-driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing CorvetteDallara DP: You and Max and the SunTrust team turned things completely aroundin the championship chase after winning the last two races. Howdoes that affect your approach to Saturday's race in Detroit? "We're right in the backyard of Chevrolet and thepressure is really going to be on because we're now fightingfor a championship, just a few points out of first. As recently aslast race at New Jersey, we could be really aggressive with ourstrategy and everything. Going to a street course for the firsttime, it's another variable that makes it tough and makes yoube a little more conservative so as not to touch anything oranyone.
It's a lot less pressure when you're behind inpoints, I think. It's more fun to try and make risky movesand you can afford to take risks. I've never been in thisposition with a DP, so I'm not sure how it's going toplay out from here. No matter what happens, we are conscious of thesituation and we'll try and not make any mistakes because,when we get to the tracks we know for sure we are good at,we'll want to be able to take advantage of those." You're among the vast majority of drivers in the race whohave not competed on the Belle Isle circuit. How are you preparing? "Learning a new track as a driver and a team is always achallenge.
With how small the racing community is, everybody knowssomebody who's been there before, so we're tapping intoall of those resources. I've been talking with people. Brian(Pillar, engineer) has been talking to people. Pratt & Miller(Corvette DP bodywork designer) has been there with the ALMS(American Le Mans Series) Corvette. We have been gathering a lot ofinput to make educated guesses as to how to set up the car for thecircuit.
Brian's got a good plan for practice and that shouldhelp a lot. I've been watching a lot of video of on-boardcameras – in an LMP (Le Mans Prototype) car, an Indy car.It's really for a rough overview, really, because normallywhen you watch on-boards, it just helps you learn which way thetrack goes and the big picture, really. We want to be as ready aspossible when that first practice starts on Friday morning." You've been alternating starting and finishing roles with Maxthis season and, this weekend, you will be the closer. Thoughts? "I'm not exactly sure quite what to expect, how long Iwill drive – a half-hour, an hour and a half, or maybe anhour. It's only a two-hour race and, depending on yellows andstrategy, it can go so many different ways.
I already know trafficwill be a big factor. The yellows will determine a lot of it.It's a track where, if you make a mistake, there's notreally much runoff and a lot of concrete walls. I think, like atNew Jersey, track position is going to be as important asit's ever going to be all year. Qualifying is going to beimportant. That'll be Max's job this weekend.
At NewJersey, we had track position, not necessarily speed, but weprotected it well and won the race." Wayne Taylor, team owner of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing CorvetteDallara DP: You've now won two in a row and are just four points out offirst in the championship with what stacks up to be an excitingstreet race in Detroit on tap for this weekend. Your overallthoughts? "For us, it's really exciting, especially going rightinto the heart of GM territory. It feels good to be going thereafter winning the last two races. There are some drivers who havedriven it before in other series, but none of our guys have.
Itwill be a completely new experience. I'd really like to thankRoger Penske and Bud Denker for putting together what will be agreat event. It's going to be one of the best venues we goto. Obviously, we want to keep getting maximum points, sowe're going to do everything we can to finish up front. Ialways think our team does a really good job when we come straightout of the trailer onto a brand new track.
We always seem to dowell in situations like that. It's going to be a huge event,being there with the Indy cars the weekend after the Indy 500.We're really looking forward to it.". I am a professional writer from House Plants, which contains a great deal of information about custom made bobblehead , wooden knitting needle, welcome to visit!
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