Atlanta, Ga. (23 January 2016) – As TeamTGM ramps up for the 2017 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge kick off at Daytona International Speedway this weekend, familiarity is key. The team returns to competition with the Porsche platform and with full season drivers Ted Giovanis and Guy Cosmo.

With the new season comes two new endurance races for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship, the first of which is the BMW Endurance Challenge, a four-hour event at Daytona. IMSA veteran Hugh Plumb joins Giovanis and Cosmo behind the wheel for those two endurance races while veteran strategist Joe Varde will assist with that end of business.

All three drivers have a long history at the 3.56-mile course that features the high banks of the oval as well as the tight and twisting turns of the infield. In fact, each TeamTGM driver has stood on the Daytona podium.

Giovanis has competed at Daytona since 2006 for TeamTGM with a podium finish of third in 2015 marking his best result at the track while driving a BMW in the ST class.

Plumb has a long history of success at Daytona as well. He stood on the top step of that same podium in 2015, while driving a Porsche in the GS class. He also scored the pole in last year’s Daytona event.

Cosmo, who joined TeamTGM for the final four races of the season last year, has driven at Daytona since 2003 – competing in IMSA’s top-tier WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He took a third place podium finish in that event driving a Prototype for Cegwa Sport.

Following a successful test at the annual Roar Before the 24 just a few weeks ago, TeamTGM anticipates a strong run to open up the year. And with one of the largest fields in years with 20 cars entered in GS, and a full field of over 40 cars, that preparation is key to achieving victory.

“We got the car set up well at the Roar and I think that’s going to be key,” said Giovanis. “The drivers all really gelled together and that was really important to us as well. We expect to be a contender for the win. We are trying to make the cars and package right and we’ve assembled a great team of people here to make that happen. There have been some crew additions and of course we have added Joe Varde and he has and will continue to make a big contribution. We’re putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together and we’re really looking forward to a great season.”

The Daytona weekend kicks off with practice and qualifying on Thursday followed by the four-hour race on Friday at 12:15 PM ET. The race can be viewed LIVE at www.imsa.com. Be sure to follow @GoTeamTGM on Twitter for LIVE updates throughout the race!