photo by John Thawley Lexington, Ohio - Guy Cosmo and Spirit of Daytona Racing will head to the legendary Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Grand American Rolex Series EMCO Gears Classic this weekend determined to build on thier 11th place finish at Watkins Glen. The #09 Porsche-powered Coyote Daytona Prototype started 7th on the grid, showing much promise.
While the Coyote is a derivative of the Fabcar, the oldest Daytona Prototype chassis running in the Series, the Porsche power combined with recent changes to the aero package could prove to be a hot combination on twisting turns and elevation changes of Mid-Ohio.
"We had a pretty solid run at Watkins Glen," said an encouraged Guy Cosmo. "We had a little bobble in the pits early on, but the car keeps getting better and the development V8 engine by Lozano Brothers is really strong."
“Things went well with the test on Monday so that’s a lot of new information fresh in our heads and in our computers to work on,” said Cosmo. “We are still in the early days with this combination, but we made a lot of progress last weekend and to get the chance to keep at it again this weekend at Mid-Ohio is great. The team has done lots of work on cockpit cooling, and we're hoping it will help. Hopefully the aero package we have will also play to our favor this weekend.”
Noting Mid-Ohio is one of his favorite tracks, Cosmo is very upbeat about the Spirit of Daytona program and the progress with the car.
"Mid-Ohio continues to be one of my favorite tracks," cited Cosmo. "I've had many wins there and I'm excited about driving the sprint format there with Marc-Antoine Camiramd. I'm really looking forward to gaining momentum through next couple of races - something we haven't had with our limited schedule thus far. This races shows good promise for the program to turn a corner."
Team owner, Troy Flis, also remains upbeat about the team's progress.
“So far we’re really pleased with the progress we are making with this package,” said Spirit of Daytona team owner Troy Flis. “The team performed well at the Glen even though it’d been a little while since we raced, so now we are looking to be stronger still here at Mid-Ohio. The car keeps making it to the finish and we were disappointed not to get a top-ten at the Glen, but we feel like so long as we keep making the progress that we have been with the car, that those results will come.”
The EMCO Gears Classic presented by Key Bank gets underway Saturday, June 21 at 5:00 PM EDT and will be broadcast live on SPEED. Live timing and scoring is available at www.grand-am.com
Guy Cosmo’s extensive background with open-wheel formula cars and sports prototypes has earned him a reputation as one of the most successful and versatile young racing drivers in North America. The 2005 American Le Mans Series Rookie of the Year ranks among the top-level road racers in the world. He has earned overall racing titles and major successes in many disciplines including karting, Formula Ford, Formula 2000, Star Mazda, Toyota Atlantic, Grand American and American Le Mans. You can learn more about Guy Cosmo at www.guycosmo.com.
The Grand American Road Racing Association, which operates and sanctions the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 and the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series, is the premier road racing organization in North America. The 15-race 2008 Rolex Series and the 11-race KONI Challenge Series calendars deliver professional sports car racing to key markets throughout North America in addition to being televised in the United States and Canada on SPEED and distributed globally through ESPN International. Learn more about Grand-Am at www.grand-am.com.
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John Thawley ~ Creative Communications Group ~ 248.227.0110
