Daytona Beach, Fla. (27 May 2014) – Spirit of Daytona Racing brings the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette Daytona Prototype to Chevrolet’s home base this weekend for the Detroit Grand Prix and the Florida-based team would like nothing more than to claim its first victory of the season in front of Chevy’s home town crowd.
The IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship takes to the streets of Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by the Metro Detroit as the Prototype machines do battle alongside a large GTD field on Saturday.
Drivers Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante are once again set to team up in the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette DP. Prior to becoming full time teammates for the 2014 TUDOR Championship, the duo raced together in the Detroit event for Spirit of Daytona Racing in 2012 and had a strong run going before a tangle with GT traffic ended the day short of victory lane.
The pair have delivered a string of top-five finishes for the Spirit of Daytona Racing squad this year despite having encountered some bad racing luck over the previous two races. In each event, the team overcame the challenges and rallied back to finish fifth.
The team’s consistency sees Spirit of Daytona Racing sit sixth in the 2014 championship standings and a positive outing in front of Chevrolet’s home town crowd would give the team a welcome boost up the point order.
During the break in race action following the previous event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Spirit of Daytona Racing completed a positive test at Watkins Glen International in which both Westbrook and Valiante took turns behind the wheel of the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette DP.
Building on that momentum, the team and drivers hope to steer clear of any trouble through the tight confines of the Detroit temporary street course and the group looks to capture its elusive first podium of the season in Saturday’s 100-minute sprint event.
“We picked up a lot at the test and we’ve had some time now to go through the data and hopefully we’ll unload with a good, fast car,” said team owner Troy Flis. “We only have a couple of quick sessions to lock in what we’ve got on the car so it’s key to be quick straight away and just be fine-tuning once we get there. Racing in Chevrolet’s back yard is a big deal for all these teams and there is a little extra motivation for a big run this Saturday!”
In addition to the on track action at Belle Isle Park, Spirit of Daytona Racing will participate in the annual transporter parade on Wednesday from 11:20 AM – 12:00 PM ET. Driver Richard Westbrook will take part in a meet and greet at 4:00 PM ET on Friday in the Corvette Corral.
Spirit of Daytona Racing will have two practice sessions on Friday ahead of qualifying which takes place at 5:45 PM ET. The qualifying session will be streamed live on IMSA.com. The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic is set to go green at 12:10 PM ET on Saturday and will be televised on FOX Sports 1 beginning at 1:30 PM.
Live timing and scoring can be followed at www.imsa.com.
