Denver, N.C. (18 February 2014) – Action Express Racing opened the 2014 IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship with a strong result, taking a big victory and double-podium team finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, and the team is focused on continuing that momentum when the next chapter of IMSA history is written at Sebring International Raceway in March. The team will take the opportunity to continue preparations for the Sebring event with an IMSA-hosted test at the 3.74-mile circuit this Thursday and Friday.
Following the Daytona triumph, the team returned to the Action Express Racing shop in Denver, North Carolina and celebrated with a team dinner for all the crew members, their families and drivers to take a moment to recognize the accomplishment. But the group was quickly back at it as the team looks to put the same preparation and approach to work in the next round of IMSA competition on the challenging Sebring International Speedway circuit for the Mobile 1 12 Hours of Sebring on March 15.
The Sebring race marks the first time Daytona Prototypes will compete on the track, and Action Express Racing got a positive start towards the race by generating valuable data during a test at the track in November. The team was the first Daytona Prototype to take to the track with the new 2014 IMSA rules and will look to build on that notebook again this week.
Rolex 24 winners Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, and Sebastien Bourdais will be on hand at the test to take laps in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype. The trio of drivers has had a busy last month completing scores of media interviews following the big Daytona win. The racers and team alike are eager to return to the racetrack on Thursday.
“Action Express is a team made of true racers, we don’t spend much time celebrating our successes,” said Team Manager Gary Nelson. “Following the Rolex 24, many teams took time off to rest up, I was proud to see our crew was back in the shop and had completely disassembled both Daytona cars down by the second day after the Rolex 24 ended. Then, last week, when North Carolina experienced a record amount of snow, the Action Express crew found ways to keep making progress. We are ready to go in Sebring, not only for the test but also of course for the race. Sebring is a very rough circuit on both the cars and the drivers. Our goal is to run up front, and we’ve been working hard to put ourselves in the position to be able to do that. This test will give us an opportunity to learn more about Sebring and add to what we learned testing there last November.”
The two-day test will see four test sessions for a total of nine and a half hours of track time.
Action Express Racing looks to carry its winning momentum into the next TUDOR Championship round in the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring which will take place on March 15.
