Pirellis Produce Results For Brumos Racing
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Daytona International Speedway was the place to be last week for Rolex Grand-Am Series fans, as forty five teams arrived there to try out their new Pirelli P-Zero tires for the first time. Earlier this year, it was announced that Pirelli would replace Hoosier Racing Tires as the specified tire for the Rolex Grand-Am Series beginning in 2008. The Rolex teams took to the track in Daytona on November 14th and 15th for their first test of the new tires.

It quickly became apparent that as predicted by many, the new tires did deliver improved lap times. Although no official results were recorded by Grand-Am in the test, unofficial times for both sessions put the best lap times a full second faster than the previous Rolex 24 qualifying record. The Wednesday unofficial best DP time was 1:41.502, posted by Oswaldo Negri, while Thursday’s fastest time was recorded by Max Angelelli at 1:41.196. Brumos Racing experienced similar success with the new tires, and were shown consistently in the top five positions out of the nineteen DP entrants in both days’ sessions. According to unofficial results, the #58 Brumos car showed a best time in Wednesday’s session, with a 1:42.067. The #59 entry turned its fastest lap with a 1:42.121 time noted at the end of day on Thursday.

The #59 car driving duties were shared between Joao Barbosa and J.C. France the first day. Hurley Haywood was unavailable for that day as he was en route from a session as Chief Instructor for the Porsche Driving Experience. He did arrive in Daytona for Thursday’s activities, however, taking his turn behind the wheel in the afternoon session. The #58 Brumos Racing car was driven by veteran Darren Law for the test sessions, as co-driver David Donohue observed from the pit area while sidelined due to some recent off-season shoulder surgery.

As the test sessions were not subject to standard regulations which apply to actual races, a more relaxed environment resulted. This enabled the crew to experiment more, such as switching drivers between the two cars during some of the sessions. The feedback from Darren Law on the #59 car, for instance, helped isolate any differences between that and the #58 car he normally drives. Joao Barbosa also took a turn driving the #58 car to aid in those comparisons. As a result of this valuable input, the team feels they are closer to reaching their goal of getting both cars as identical as possible for the 2008 season.

The entire Brumos team was excited about the strong showing of both the #58 and the #59 cars during the test days. “We were very happy with the performance of the new tires”, said Hurley Haywood. “The test overall was a positive experience for Brumos, not just from the standpoint of the tires themselves, but also because of the great job all of our drivers did in adapting to them. We are really looking forward to working with Pirelli in 2008, and feel their company and their tires will be a great addition to the Rolex Grand-Am Series.”

The Rolex Grand-Am teams will return to Daytona once more on January 4th - 6th for some additional testing, before the Rolex 24 kicks off the 2008 season at Daytona International Speedway on January 26th - 27th, 2008.

Posted on 11/27 at 03:54 PM