HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Oswaldo Negri was at the top of the speed charts during testing for the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series Feb. 25-26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Driving the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, Negri was the best of the 19 Daytona Prototypes that took to the 2.3-mile road course, while Spencer Pumpelly led 20 GT competitors that took to the track, wheeling his No. 67 TRG Porsche GT3.
Testing was in preparation for the Gainsco Grand Prix of Miami March 29, the second race of the season for the series.
“Our philosophy is that there are so many top notch teams here in the Rolex Series that you cannot blink,” Negri said. “That’s what I told my engineer, ‘if we keep doing the ordinary, we’re going to be ordinary. Let’s do whatever it takes to go get ahead of those guys.’ Last year, I would say, we were not up to speed with those guys. I do feel that the Pirelli Tires are helping me a lot.”
Pumpelly shared Kevin Buckler’s Porsche with Tim George, Jr.
“We’re pretty excited,” Buckler said. “Our team has really gelled this year; we’ve got a great group of drivers and team members back again and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. All the teams here were really quite fast. It’s funny, because the difference between first and 10th really is not that much. Being quickest both days were good and I’m real proud of the guys.”
Level 5 Racing brought its new Crawford-built Ferrari 430 GT to the test with full-time drivers Scott Tucker and Ed Zabinski, as well as veteran sports-car racer Andy Wallace sharing time behind the wheel of the Italian marquee.
With a disappointing finish at the Rolex 24 in the rearview mirror, SAMAX racing hd a BMW engine in its Riley chassis during the Homestead test. Drivers Ryan Dalziel and Henri Zogaib were excited by the new engine.
“For us it’s really good,” Dalziel said. “We were definitely down on power at Daytona, and I think what we have now is very similar to the high-end Fords and Pontiacs that are out there. For us it was a decision we had to make. It was more of a decision on what do we go with, and BMW Dinan seemed to give us the best support.”
Beyer Racing, one of the youngest teams in the Rolex Series paddock, made its debut during the test with 18-year-old Jared Beyer and 21-year-old Daniel Herrington sharing the wheel of the No. 19 Ford Crawford.
A recent high school graduate, Beyer is being coached by former road racer Davy Jones.
“Just getting used to driving around the cars is a big switch, but a lot of fun,” Beyer said. “You’ve got to figure out who’s going to give you room and who’s not going to give you room, and where you can and can’t pass while you’re out there.”
Defending series champions Gainsco Racing and drivers Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney tested their back-up car, a machine that was formerly campaigned by George Robinson. The car may be fielded as a second Gainsco entry at selected events this season.
“I was going nuts having not been in the car since the Rolex 24, but I think my wife might have been going more nuts,” Fogarty said.  “So, needless to say, this test is very welcome.  In between, I try to find things to do that can at least come close to the experience of driving a Daytona Prototype, but generally they are pretty dangerous and don’t quite match up.  The skiing has been good in the Northwest and I even thought about getting into some alpine races! Anyhow, we were looking forward to getting back at it.”
Returning to the racetrack for the first time since January Test Days at Daytona are the Lolas of Krohn Racing. The team chose to run the Nos. 75 and 76 machines as Rileys at the Rolex 24, but plan to campaign the Lola chassis for the rest of the Rolex Series season.