Grand-Am Ready For Brickyard Debut

The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series makes its historic debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Friday. (Chris Jones/IMS Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS – Consider it one-stop shopping for the die-hard race fan.

With former Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 competitors set to join the starting grid, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Brickyard Grand Prix could well be the summer’s ultimate motorsports ticket this Friday.

The entry list for the Rolex Series’s Indy debut is a Who’s Who of racing.

The 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner – and current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star – Juan Pablo Montoya, 2002 Indy 500 runner-up Paul Tracy, 2010 Brickyard 400 champion Jamie McMurray and four-time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais headline an impressive list of “crossover” talent who will co-drive in the Daytona Prototype class, hoping to be the first to claim glory in GRAND-AM’s initial foray on Indy’s high-speed 2.534-mile road course.

Five former Indy 500 starters – Montoya, Tracy, Bourdais, Eliseo Salazar and Rolex Series regular Scott Pruett – are entered in the Brickyard Grand Prix. McMurray, Montoya and Grand-Am regulars Pruett, Boris Said and Andy Lally bring Brickyard 400 experience. Said, Lally and Salazar will drive in the Rolex Series’ GT class.

Additional intrigue regarding the “one-off” entries: Indy is the three-hour finale of the Rolex Series’ inaugural North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com. The special three-race competition began with the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona and continued with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen on July 1.

The NAEC champion team in the Daytona Prototype class gets $100,000; Montoya and McMurray are coming aboard to help team owner Chip Ganassi’s chances. They’ll be in the No. 02 Chevron BMW/Riley while Pruett and Memo Rojas will drive the team’s headlining No. 01 TELMEX-sponsored ride. A team’s highest-finishing car earns points toward the championship; Ganassi’s group is third in the NAEC standings coming into Indianapolis.

With the same goal in mind, Bourdais is joining Starworks Motorsport, the NAEC’s second-place team.

Of course, even these great talents from other racing disciplines know they face a formidable group of Grand-Am regulars starting with Pruett, the current Daytona Prototype points leader with Rojas and a four-time series champion. Pruett has his own solid record at the historic track with a combined six starts in the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.

“Obviously with Juan, Jamie and Scott – who is the poster boy of Grand-Am and sports car racing because he’s so competitive – it’s going to be a great event and I’m excited to get going,” said Tracy, whose controversial runner-up finish to Helio Castroneves in the 2002 Indianapolis 500 is still one of the most talked-about finishes in the iconic track’s long history.

“Whether I won or got second place, it was still a great achievement,” Tracy said. “And now, to be involved in GRAND-AM and the first North American-based sports car series to run on the road course track that was purpose-built for Formula One … it’s a real feather in the cap not only for Grand-Am and all of endurance racing but for all the drivers who have a chance to go there.’’

Bourdais is with Starworks for the second time in the NAEC, following his appearance at Watkins Glen.

“I enjoyed the test in the Daytona Prototype (July 6-7), and found the road course technically demanding,” said Bourdais, who has two Indy 500 starts. “Running with Starworks gives me a great opportunity but I don’t think anything that I learned from the Indianapolis 500 is going to carry over, because the road course is very unique.”

In addition to the Brickyard Grand Prix, Grand-Am’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will have a two-and-a-half hour event on July 27 starting at 1 p.m. Popular NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace, who has 10 Brickyard 400 starts, will make a “guest appearance” in that race, the Brickyard Sports Car Challenge, driving for Rebel Rock Racing.

Collectively, it will amount to one long – and epic – day.

“This is [going to be] kind of crazy with pretty much everything with four wheels,” said Montoya.

SPEED SPORT Magazine “digital edition” now available for iPad and iPhone!

Get one year for just $12.99. Single issues (including back issues) are available for $2.99.
Click here to visit the iTunes App Store for details!

Posted by NSSN Staff on Jul 26 2012 Filed under Grand Am, Latest Headlines, Road Racing, Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.