Montoya, Franchitti to drive in 24 hours of Daytona race

[VilleneuveTracy]

I am not sure which sub-forum this properly belongs in but since both are NASCAR drivers I figured this would be an acceptable forum. If I am wrong, please let me know.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Defending Grand-Am Rolex 24 at Daytona winners Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates on Monday announced a two-car effort for the Rolex Sports Car Series' 46th running of the prestigious event, featuring eight drivers representing some of the best talent the motor racing world has to offer.

Juan Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas will unite for the twice-round-the-clock classic to form the driver lineup in the No. 01 TELMEX/Target Daytona Prototype, while Team Target IndyCar pilots Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon join Salvador Duran and Alex Lloyd in the No. 02 Target/TELMEX Daytona Prototype.


After winning the 2006 and 2007 events, Ganassi will look to become the first team in history to win three consecutive overall titles in the Rolex 24 at Daytona

The Ganassi roster is an impressive group of international racing champions representing three Indianapolis 500 titles (Montoya in 2000, Wheldon in 2005 and Franchitti in 2007), five open-wheel championships (Montoya in 1999, Dixon in 2003, Wheldon in 2005, Lloyd in 2007 and Franchitti in 2007), two Daytona Prototype championships (Pruett in 2004 and 2006) and five former Rolex 24 winners.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/head...lex/index.html

[Knowlesy]

Kind of expected, but great news all the same. That is a hell of a lineup for the 01 car, great drivers!

[fish88]

Yeah that is a great line-up at espacially the number 1 car. Great to see the 2 rivals from the CART 1999 championship in 1 car.

[luke]

Indeed, very strong, how can they not win???

[Knowlesy]

Well, judging by how close and tense last years race was, quite easily!

My nails still haven't grown back from last January. Never have I felt so nervous looking at a bland and badly laid out timing screen. The top three ran nose to tail most of the race. Epic!

[muggle not]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Kind of expected, but great news all the same. That is a hell of a lineup for the 01 car, great drivers!

Agree, that is a strong looking team. However, I haven't seen the other teams yet. Will have to see what I can find.

[VilleneuveTracy]

Given JV's foray into this form of racing by running Le Mans is there a chance that he would run this race? It may be too late for him to get a ride for 2008 but I think he will run it at some point.

[Knowlesy]

Never too late. Announcements and changes go well into January.

[FIRE]

Is Motors TV covering this race?

[Knowlesy]

There was a comment a few weeks back from a motors person on their forum that said "might be part of our plans....", referring to Grand Am. So it may be under consideration by the looks of things.

My fingers are well and truly crossed for this. A live Grand Am package would be awesome. Never understood what those sportscar forum guys have against the series!

[VilleneuveTracy]

That is encouraging! I think JV may not do it this year because he does not want to distract from his NASCAR effort but I would be shocked if he does not run it in 2009 or in the future.

I am not that familiar with sports car racing. How does the prestige of the 24 hours of Daytona compare to that of Le Mans? Using a NASCAR analogy, is it kind of like the Brickyard 400 to Le Man's Daytona 500?

[Knowlesy]

It's hard to say really. Daytona is very prestigious of course, but it's very centred around the Americans it seems (well, more than it used to be), whereas Le Mans is more international.

Le Mans is obviously a far more interesting track as well.

Car wise, Grand Am seems to be tight whereas with Le Mans you have the big hitting manufacturers developing astonishing diesel engines and F1 spec chassis that can lead to major superiority.

They are just very different and hard to compare. What strikes me about the Daytona race is how intense and relentless it tends to be up front. As I say, last year it was a three way battle for hour after hour and it didn't settle up front until JPM got the lead back (with a great move) and then Pruett finished the job off with his experience and efficiency. I can honestly say it was the most exciting endurance race I have witnessed. A 24 hour race that felt like a sprint!

Both events are great to have on the CV I would say, but obviously you'd prefer Le Mans to Daytona as it just has that extra reputation and prestige to it and the manufacturer backing.

Crap analogy time
So, to me, Le Mans is the Daytona 500 and Daytona 24 is a rain delayed Daytona 500 run on a Monday. Not quite the same, but pretty close.

[Mystery]

Well thanks for clearing that up.....

Actually with my motorsport watching calendar having opened itself right up with F1 elimating itself from my attention I'm looking out for more stuff to watch. Will probably involve NASCAR and I think GrandAm would lend itself well to my 2008 line-up.

[VilleneuveTracy]

Thanks for the insight, knowlesy!

[Knowlesy]

I know, bloody useless as always!

[Speed-King]

Just a reminder for you guys from the stockcar-forum:
The test days for the 24hrs are under way and so far it's looking pretty good for the NASCAR (and Openwheel) guys. Ganassi's cars were fastest in three sessions (twice #01, once #02) and the Penske-Taylor entry in another.

Results of the practise sessions can be found here:
http://grand-am.com/Events/Event.asp?ID=206