Pumpelly Leads the First Day of Homestead Testing | Spencer Pumpelly | Grand-Am Rolex Series| Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series

Pumpelly Leads the First Day of Homestead Testing
2/25/08
From Grand-am.com:

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Feb. 25, 2008) - The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 returned to the race track today at Homestead-Miami Speedway in preparation for the upcoming GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami. The two-day test is open to all Rolex Series teams.

Among the Daytona Prototype teams in attendance was the Rolex 24 overall winner, the No. 01 TELMEX/Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing Lexus Riley. By virtue of the Daytona win, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas will enter the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami as the series championship leader.

Also included among the 19 Daytona Prototypes at the test are two Cheever Racing entries. The No. 16 Cheever Racing Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Pontiac Coyote and the No. 51 Cheever Racing Pontiac Coyote made their debuts at the Rolex 24 and continue the development of the new chassis.

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.

In the GT class, Farnbacher Loles and TRG continue their rivalry with each team running a three-car stable of Porsche GT3s. Those six Porsches are among the 18 GT machines running this week at Homestead. The No. 66 TRG Mitchell Rubber/Marquis Jet of Bryce Miller and Ted Ballou comes to Homestead-Miami Speedway after a runner-up finish at the Rolex 24.

"To be in a position like this, second in points for the championship after Daytona, and to carry that into the season is a big advantage," Miller said. "We've just got to concentrate on keeping it on the track this week. We're doing pretty well here, the track conditions seem to change a lot throughout the day, so we're chasing that, but I think we'll be in good shape when we come back next month."

Though times aren't available for the session, Miller's teammate Spencer Pumpelly was the quickest GT pilot in the No. 67 TRG Porsche. Rolex 24 polesitter Oswaldo Negri turned the fastest unofficial lap overall in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley.