Rolex 24:
The jewel in the crown of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series, the famous 24 hours of Daytona, runs this
weekend, marking the end of the winter off-season for race fans everywhere!
Porsche has decided to get
serious about Grand Am prototypes this year, with plans to provide Porsche powerplants in four different makes of
chassis, after a disappointing 2005 season with the Porsche-powered Fabcar. No sooner said than done – Porsche factory
driver Lucas Luhr put his Porsche Crawford (pictured) on the pole, with a time 1.4 seconds quicker than the previous DP
track record.
More info, TV times, and a gratuitous Playboy bunny pic after the jump.
There will be a big field of Grand Am’s Daytona Prototypes at this year’s running of the event, which always draws
celebrity drivers and hired guns eager to win North America’s longest professional road race. This year’s “guest
drivers” include NASCAR’s Rusty Wallace, IRL’s Danica Patrick, and Champ Car’s Sebastien Bourdais, among
others.
This year’s off-track festivities are brightened up by the appearance of Playboy bunnies in the
infield – part of the media company’s sponsorship of three Daytona Prototype and three Grand Am Cup teams, announced
yesterday.
Best of all for North American fans, the
Rolex 24 is covered live by SPEED Channel in three long segments:
January 28 starting at 12:00PM ET
January
28 starting at 8:00PM ET
January 29 starting at 8:00AM ET
Live timing and scoring coverage is
available on the race website.
A1GP:
The “world cup of
motorsport” brings its national teams back to competition this weekend in Durban, South Africa, for the
championship’s first-ever street race. Today’s rainy practice sessions saw numerous crashes on the tight course. North
American TV watchers get good news and bad news from Durban – the good news is that the race will be broadcast by
Outdoor Life Network, but the bad news is the race won’t be aired until next
weekend.