Daytona Beach, Fla. (7 July 2014) – Spirit of Daytona Racing is still riding the high of Visit Florida Racing’s biggest win of the team’s 10 year history after claiming victory in the historic Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen two weeks ago.
It was the Florida-based team’s first race win of 2014 in a season that has seen the squad get stronger and stronger each time out in the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette Daytona Prototype.
Now as the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship takes to Canada for the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance half way through the 2014 championship, Spirit of Daytona and Visit Florida are all the more thirsty for a repeat victory.
The team’s most recent race results saw drivers Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante pick up two podium finishes in as many races and now has the Visit Florida team right thick in the championship hunt, sitting third.
“Winning at Watkins Glen was just a huge thrill for everyone involved with VISIT FLORIDA and with our team,” said team owner Troy Flis.
“The whole group had been working so hard to get a victory and we came close at Detroit. But to win at the Glen was very special. We now have a good shot at going for the championship and we’re going to do everything we can to be there fighting for the title at the end.”
The Spirit of Daytona Racing squad had little time to celebrate the 6 Hour victory with the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park event just around the corner. The trip north of the border this weekend marks the maiden run for the IMSA TUDOR Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Spirit of Daytona Racing is looking forward to another positive outing.
The TUDOR Championship teams will have three practice sessions to dial in the cars and Spirit of Daytona Racing aims to be right up to speed with the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Corvette DP. Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is a very quick 2.459-mile natural terrain road course that features 10 corners and requires high commitment. Those who find their necessary speed quickly in IMSA’s debut race weekend at the track will be well-rewarded.
“It’s a bit of an unknown for a lot of the teams like us who haven’t raced there before,” said Flis. “But a lot of our guys have been there before and we’ve got a good handle on what we think the car is going to want to be quick there. The focus is on continuing to bring home results like we’ve been doing and just keep picking up as many points as possible.”
Some may consider the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park venue to be the home track of Valiante, and though the race is run in his home country of Canada, the trip to Ontario is still some 4,500 miles from Valiante’s home town. Both he and Westbrook will target a third consecutive trip to the podium on Sunday.
The Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance event will see three practice sessions on Friday and Saturday with a 15-minute qualifying session scheduled for 6:05 PM ET on Saturday evening. A 20-minute warmup Sunday morning will precede the 2.75-hour race which is set to go green at 2:05 PM ET. FOX Sports 1 will carry live coverage beginning at 2:00 PM ET.
MRN Radio will also broadcast the race on www.mrn.com.
Live timing and scoring is available at scoring.imsa.com.
