Tuesday, November 18, 2008

As the record books closed on Grand-Am’s Rolex Series for 2008, Brumos celebrated our most successful season in five years. Planning to capitalize on that momentum and committed to pursuit of the championship in 2009, Brumos took advantage of the opportunity for some advance preparation by participating in two recent test sessions held at Daytona International Speedway.

Drivers Darren Law, J.C. France. Joao Barbosa and Hurley Haywood participated in the October session, as David Donohue recuperated from shoulder surgery. Driving on the 2008 specification Pirellis, the drivers rotated between the two cars in order to provide feedback and comparison, also focusing on practicing driver changes in preparation for the upcoming Rolex 24.  November’s session saw the introduction of the 2009 specification Pirellis and a different driver lineup for Brumos.  Hurley Haywood had a prior commitment and was unable to return for the second round.  J.C. France did return, and invited the 2008 Mexico NASCAR Champion, Antonio Perez, to be his guest and take the Brumos #59 car on track for his first-ever DP drive.  Previous Rolex 24 Brumos driver Terry Borcheller was also in attendance, joining Darren Law and Joao Barbosa to round out the group. David Donohue joined his teammates as an observer only, still sidelined from his surgery.

Joao Barbosa was pleased with the results, saying “Testing is something I really enjoy doing, as it helps us be better prepared, and we tried a lot of new things on the car to improve it for next year. We didn’t get as much time on the track as we would have liked due to some rain the second day, but we have one more chance in January, which I think will be the most important test.  The new Pirellis seem similar to the 2008 ones, so we will just keep working on getting the best out of them. We are really looking forward to the 24 Hours this year and hope to repeat our performance, without the mechanical problems we had last time.  The Brumos team looks strong and we are prepared for a long race, so we will continue hoping for the best!”

Darren Law also voiced optimism, noting “We’ve run through a lot of different parts and pieces on the car, getting it ready for the Rolex 24.  Today we ran on the new 2009 Pirelli spec tires, and have found them very consistent on both short and long runs.” Law spent most of his time behind the wheel in his co-driver’s absence, adding “I know that David would love to be out there driving, but instead he has to sit and watch me drive. Actually, I love the chance to get all the extra seat time, so I can’t complain.  Joao did jump in the #58 car briefly, but the main reason he did was to give us feedback on some different things we tried between the two cars, to compare what works better between the two.  I haven’t driven #59 this time, as they have so many drivers at this test, but #58 is running up front and very comfortable.”

With both our cars running near the front and posting consistently fast laps, Brumos is ready for a return to action. Despite a break in the schedule for the remainder of 2008, plans are already underway for the next test at Daytona early in January as we focus on our goal of making 2009 our championship year.

Posted on 11/18 at 02:16 PM

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