Quest'anno e' il 50° anniversario della famosa 24 ore della Florida.



La gara si svolge questo fine settimana sullo Speedway, versione misto/stradale, di Daytona.
Cerchero' di raccontarvela il piu' possibile, tempo permettendo.

Ci sono un gran numero di piloti Italiani, molto quotati per la vittoria finale, in entrambe le classi:
Angelelli (DP), Pirro (GT), Fisichella e Bruni (GT), Papis (DP) ......
Man mano vi raccontero' di piu' su di loro e sui loro team ......

Adesso, per cominciare bene, prima notizia:
Angelelli subito miglior tempo assoluto nel 1° turno di prove libere !
Papis 8° assoluto, mentre i Romani Fisichella e Bruni 10° (23° ass.) e Pirro 30° (43° ass.) in GT.

Roy

Roy una cortesia:sai se viene trasmessa in TV?forse Eurosport??che auto corrono:Gt,prototipi???
Thank's a lot

Si, Eurosport. Sabato sera LIVE per la partenza dalle 21:00. Partenza ore 21:30.
Telecronista: il Direttore di Gara di Monza, Daniele Galbiati, piu' i telecronisti soliti di Eurosport.

Iscritte = 14 DP (Daytona Prototype) e 46 GT (Gran Turismo).
Il numero e' ancora non definitivo, perche' in US ti puoi iscrivere anche il giorno della corsa e correre lo stesso anche senza aver provato (ad insindacabile giudizio dell'organizzazione).

Roy

Una 'curiosita'' di questa corsa sono le prove di qualificazione.
Infatti, subito oggi si assegnano i posti in prima fila (Pole e 2° posizione).

Stasera, ora Italiana, a cominciare dalle 21:45 (15:45 della Florida) TRA POCHI MINUTI, una ad una, tutte le auto scenderanno in pista per tentare di conquistare la Pole.
La procedura e' assolutamente spettacolare: un giro di lancio, 2 giri di qualifica ed uno di rallentamento/cool down lap. Naturalmente, il miglior tempo assoluto sul giro di oggi avra' la Pole 'assicurata' cosi' come il secondo miglior tempo sara' al suo fianco sulla griglia di partenza di Sabato (ore 15:30 US/ 21:30 Italia).
NESSUNO potra' scalzare quelli in prima fila di oggi anche se domani dovessero migliorare i tempi girando piu' veloci di oggi !

Ecco il link dove potete seguire LIVE i tempi ufficiali.
Buon divertimento !!!!

http://grandam.racersites-cluster.com/OrbitsServer/grandam/TimingView.html?sid=2394&VN=52225

Roy

Grazieee!!!

The World Comes To Daytona ... Rolex 24 Plays Central Role In Making Daytona the 'World Center of Racing'
Jan. 26, 2012

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - When Bill France Jr. built Daytona International Speedway in the late 1950s, part and parcel to his vision was ensuring the race track had an
international reputation.
More than 50 years later, the Rolex 24 At Daytona continues to play an integral role in making
Daytona the undisputed "World Center of Racing." This weekend's 50th Anniversary Rolex 24
will include drivers representing at least 28 different countries and five continents. It will be
viewed on television all over the world, in many cases live. And it will also include five
"international" manufacturers racing alongside vehicles representing the United States' big three
automakers. As a result, the event has attracted a worldwide media contingent.
Among those manufacturers will be Ferrari and Audi, which are both launching new, factorysupported
Rolex Series programs at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. In the lead-up to the race, the presence of Ferrari and Audi has been palpable.
"Ferraris bring Italians, Audis bring Germans, drivers and participants," said GRAND-AM
Managing Director of Racing Operations Mark Raffauf. "It's bringing a huge number of people to
Daytona that haven't been here before."
Audi and Ferrari add to an impressive manufacturer list that also includes Porsche, BMW,
Mazda, Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge. Those eight manufacturers are all hungry for the bragging
rights a Rolex 24 victory would bring. And it appears all eight have a real opportunity of doing
just that.
"The number of manufacturers and teams that could win has never been as great as this,"
Raffauf said. "There may have been fields with more cars and more prototypes and all that, but the competition was always between three or four cars.
"This year in GT, any one of 25 or 30 of the 45 cars can win the race. In DP, certainly the top 10
or 11 are winning cars."
The increase in participation is due in large part to a concerted effort over the past several years
by GRAND-AM to provide new opportunities for international manufacturers to get involved.
Those opportunities could expand even further in the near future if GRAND-AM's efforts to bring
a version of Europe's popular DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, which translated means
"German Touring Car Masters") are successful. Another key step of that process will take place
this weekend.
"Joining us throughout the weekend will be Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Philipp Berkessy, who
are the two principals of a company called ITR, which manages and promotes DTM across
Europe," said GRAND-AM Managing Director of Manufacturer and Series Development, Dave
Spitzer. "They are coming to the Rolex 24 to meet with us and members of the NASCAR board
to further strengthen the relationships that we have built over the last two years. That's a really
key concept of getting to know each other, because what is being contemplated is an
extraordinary relationship and investment on the part of the manufacturers."
The manufacturers are only one piece of this weekend's international puzzle. As mentioned
earlier, drivers from all over the globe have descended upon Daytona for their shot at glory.
Among them is a strong contingent of drivers from Latin America, which is seeing resurgence
this year.
"Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, 25 to 30 percent of the field for this race came from Latin America
and South America," Raffauf said. "For a long time, this was the race to go to in this hemisphere
and now people are starting to come back to it from the south. That's also a good thing,
because there are a lot of good racers down there."
International participants bring with them international media coverage and guests. Journalists
from as far away as Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom will be on hand to cover the Rolex
24, while thousands of international visitors are expected at the race.
The 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona will certainly have a huge international feel, perhaps
larger than ever this year. But it's had it to some degree dating all the way back to the first
sports car race at Daytona International Speedway in 1962, and it's what continues to make the
Rolex 24 special.
"If you go back and look at all the great drivers who have been here to compete at this event,
this truly is unique," said GRAND-AM co-founder Jim France, Bill France Sr.'s son. "I don't think
you could find any race in the world that brings together the diverse, absolutely top talent from
so many different types of motorsports in one race.
"We've done it consistently over the year, where we get the best endurance drivers, the best
sports car drivers, the best open-wheel drivers, the best stock car drivers, and there's always
some group of those drivers all mixed up in that field. There's just no event that I know of that
matches it.".
By Grand-Am

Giusto per non essere in OT ( ) con questo Topic, ecco qualcosa di Vs. conoscenza, piu' in tema con il Forum, in bella mostra nell'Infield di Daytona ....





S'Andy, visto cosa mi e' toccato fare per scovare nuovi .... 'avvistamenti' ?
Fino a Daytona mi e' toccato andare .....
D'altronde, in Italia ormai devi "nasconderti" perche' se ti vedono in giro ti spolpano vivo di tasse, benzina ..... e sei tacciato di esserti 'arricchito' evadendo il fisco .
In America, invece, se sei in giro con queste auto e/o hai fatto soldi lavorando seriamente, ti fanno i complimenti e ti portano ad esempio per gli altri ......
A proposito, in America le tasse arrivano al 33% max !!! .... meditate gente, meditate .....

Roy

PS = ma questo post lo lascio qui o lo sposto in 'Avvistamenti...' ??

Lascialo qui..............in fondo è pur sempre a Daytona.

Ragazzi, oggi niente di che da segnalare.
Pioveva e quindi quasi nessuno ha girato e i pochi con tempi altissimi, ovviamente.

Ecco, quindi lo schieramento:
1_8_DP_1_Dalziel/Luhr/McNish/Popow/Potolicchio Starworks M./Ford Riley 1:41.119 126.741
2_10_DP_2_Angelelli/Briscoe/Taylor SunTrust Racing/Corvette DP 1:41.240 126.590
3_02_DP_3_Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya Chip Ganassi/BMW Riley 1:41.463 126.312
4_99_DP_4_Fogarty/Gidley/Gurney GAINSCO/Stallings Racing/Corvette 1:41.519 126.242
5_90_DP_5_Garcia/Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook Spirit of Daytona/Corvette 1:41.611 126.128
6_60_DP_6_Allmendinger/Negri/Pew/Wilson M.Shank Racing/Ford Riley 1:41.662 126.064
7_9_DP_7_Barbosa/Borcheller/France/Papis Action Express Racing/Corvette 1:42.074 125.555
8_6_DP_8_Goncalvez/McDowell/Nasr/Yacaman M.Shank Racing/Ford Riley 1:42.414 125.139
9_2_DP_9_Hunter-Reay/Mayer/Potolicchio/Potolicchio/Valiante Starworks M./Ford Riley 1:42.657 124.842
10_77_DP_10_Frisselle/Frisselle/Lowe/Tracy Doran Racing/Ford Dallara 1:42.773 124.702
11_50_DP_11_Defoor/Forbes-Robinson/Johnson/Pace/deQuesada 50+/BMW Riley 1:43.723 123.559
12_76_DP_12_Braun/Jonsson/Krohn/Zonta Krohn Racing/Ford Lola 1:44.433 122.719
13_59_GT_1_Davis/Haywood/Keen/Lieb Brumos Racing/Porsche GT3 1:49.342 117.210
14_69_GT_2_Assentato/Lazzaro/Longhi/Segal AIM Racing/Ferrari 458 1:49.357 117.194
15_44_GT_3_Lally/Lietz/Potter/Rast Magnus Racing/Porsche GT3 1:49.388 117.160
16_45_GT_4_Bergmeister/Long/Neiman/Rockenfeller Flying Lizard Motorsports/Porsche GT3 1:49.550 116.987
17_62_GT_5_Bruni/Fisichella/Matos Risi Competizione/Ferrari458 1:49.661 116.869
18_42_GT_6_Cameron/Nonnamaker/Nonnamaker/Nonnamaker Team Sahlen/MazdaRX-8 1:49.700 116.827
19_23_GT_7_Collard/Holzer/Leitzinger/MacNeil Alex Job Racing/Porsche GT3 1:49.766 116.757
20_88_GT_8_Edwards/Marsh/Milner/Taylor Autohaus Motorsp/CamaroGT.R 1:49.773 116.750
21_17_GT_9_Asch/Baldwin/Burtin/Ragginger/Sellers Burtin Racing/PorscheGT3 1:49.891 116.624
22_48_GT_10_Bell/Maassen/Miller Paul Miller Racing/PorscheGT3 1:50.044 116.462
23_63_GT_11_Beretta/Bertolini/Vilander Risi Competizione/Ferrari458 1:50.191 116.307
[......]
34_51_GT_22_Baas/Canache/Norman/Pirro/von Moltke APR Motorsport/AudiR8 Grand-Am 1:50.749 115.721
[....]
44_18_GT_32_Jones/Lester/McCutchen/Thomas Muehlner Motorsports/PorscheGT3 1:52.250 114.173
Secondo me (Roy), questi sono i favoriti per la vittoria finale in GT
[.....]
50_36_GT_38_Andretti/Andretti/Hacquard/Krohn Yellow Dragon Motorsports/MazdaRX-8 1:53.202 113.213
51_65_GT_39_Castellano/Cox/Hedlund/McCarthy/Michaelian TRG/Porsche GT3 1:53.919 112.500
60_01_DP_0_Hand/Pruett/Rahal/Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing/BMW Riley - -
Vincitori della scorsa edizione, ultimi senza tempo.

In Verde gli Italiani

Roy ma GT-R in gara??

Nessuna, solo una, "spettatrice". Quella blu nelle foto qua sopra ....
Roy

Peccato però...... ideona per il prossimo anno!!andiamo a Daytona con una GT-R tutta clubizzata!!! facciamo un super team tra tutti noi e facciamo un culo a strisce (bè ci sarebbero anche le stelle visto che siamo in USA ) a tutti quanti!!!

Nissan Joins GRAND-AM as Official Promotional Partner
Feb. 2, 2012



DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Nissan has joined GRAND-AM Road Racing as an Official Promotional Partner, becoming the 10th participating original equipment manufacturer.
Nissan will support teams in both the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The auto manufacturer will also participate at four GRAND-AM events with its Nissan consumer display.
"GRAND-AM welcomes Nissan's participation in our 2012 OEM partnership program," said GRAND-AM President Tom Bledsoe. "Our concerted effort to embrace international manufacturers continues to bear fruit, and we look forward to seeing Nissan increase its involvement in both classes of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge."
Nissan's GRAND-AM history includes three Rolex Series victories, including the SRP II class in the 2003 Rolex 24 At Daytona in a one-two finish for Team Seattle. Hypersport - today's Dempsey Racing - also ran an Infiniti-powered Doran Daytona Prototype in two 2005 races.
Nissan has four victories in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition, winning two races and finishing second in the 2004 manufacturers' championship standings.
"Nissan is delighted to be a part of an expanding field in GRAND-AM racing," said Ron Stukenberg, Nissan's senior manager of motorsports marketing communications. "Any racing series benefits from diversity and Nissan is happy to add its rich racing tradition to GRAND-AM's growing roster. We anticipate a great season of racing, and we look forward to interacting with racing fans at the Nissan Innovations display and owner car corrals in 2012."
Nissan played a dominant role in American sports car racing in the late 1990s and early 1990s, winning four consecutive IMSA GTP championships beginning in 1988. Scott Pruett scored his first victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 1994 driving a Nissan 300ZX. It was Nissan's second overall triumph in the Rolex 24, following a 1992 win in a Group C Prototype.

Dai Simo, perche' non spediamo le ns. Godzillas in US cosi' partecipiamo ai Corrals durante i weekend di gara, cosi' facciamo nuovi amici tra le MY GT-R's Yankees ...che sono tante !!!
Roy

Se vinco al Superenalotto facciamo un 747 cargo pieno di GTR ed andiamo tutti!!

Io avevo spedito la mia Harley nel 2003 per il centenario in USA. La cosa bella è che dovetti pagare dazi e sdoganamento sia all'andata che al ritorno.