Spirit of Daytona Racing has been nominated for Microsoft Visual Studios “Team To Win” Award
Daytona Beach, Fla. (29 April 2014) – Spirit of Daytona Racing drivers Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante are eager to return to race form this weekend in the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette Daytona Prototype as the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship returns to the West Coast for Round 4 of the championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
The team looks forward to the annual Laguna visit as the track holds some fond memories. The group took victory in the race at Mazda Raceway in 2012 as part of a thrilling year for the team when the No. 90 Corvette went to victory lane three times. That Laguna result was followed up last year with a pole position when Westbrook wheeled the VISITFLORIDA-liveried DP to the fastest qualifying lap.
Spirit of Daytona Racing has had a solid start to the 2014 championship and targets a return trip to the Laguna podium. As the Florida-based team visits one of the favorite stops on the TUDOR schedule, Spirit of Daytona’s hopes are high in anticipation of a positive run. The Corvette DP should be well-suited to the 2.238-mile California road course as the track features a much smoother track surface than the teams experience on the bumpy Sebring and Long Beach circuits.
“This is one of the all-time great tracks and everyone is a little extra motivated when you come out to a place like Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,” said team owner Troy Flis. “This will be a different animal for us compared to 2012 as we’ve got an entirely new technical package so this is a new notebook for everyone. But hopefully we can unload with a quick car. The track is pretty smooth and historically the 90 car has been good on the smother tracks so we will see if that is true this weekend. We tested after Long Beach and just kept chipping away at it and that’s the plan again this weekend.”
The Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda will once again feature a sprint race format with the event lasting just two hours. The four TUDOR Championship classes will be separated into two race events with the prototype machines joining the GTLM category on track.
Currently fifth in the TUDOR Championship Standings, Spirit of Daytona Racing aims to gain momentum this weekend at a track where the team has proven its strength before.
The green flag will fly for the two-hour race on Sunday at 2:45 PM (PST) and will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 beginning at 2:30 PM (PST). Live timing and scoring is available at www.scoring.imsa.com.
