2011 News

Dalziel Back to Defend ‘Daytona 24’ Crown

 Orlando, Florida (07 January, 2011) – Scotland’s Ryan Dalziel will return to the scene of his most famous race victory later this month as the 28-year-old gets set to defend his ‘Rolex 24 at Daytona’ sports car title at the Daytona International Speedway, Florida, 27th – 30th January 2011.
Last season Dalziel won the ‘Rolex 24 at Daytona’ as part of a four-man squad competing for Action Express Racing before switching to Peter Baron’s Starworks Motorsport outfit for the remainder of the 2010 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.  The Orlando-based racer claimed fifth overall in the Driver Standings, his best finish to-date, partnered in the Fort Lauderdale team by Canada’s Mike Forrest.

It was announced today that both Dalziel and Forrest will reunite behind the wheel of the #8 Miracle Grout Shield Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype to tackle North America’s premier sports car endurance event at the end of the month at Daytona Beach.

The Starworks Motorsport duo will be joined at Daytona by Tomas Enge, the Czech driver bringing F1, sports car and GT experience to the line-up, with Americans Colin Braun and Jim Lowe, with NASCAR and GT credentials respectively, completing the five-driver roster for the 24 hour race.

“I’m obviously really excited to be heading back to Daytona,” stated Dalziel ahead of the ‘Roar by the Shore’ test days this weekend.  “I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since I won the race with Terry (Borcheller), Joao (Barbosa) and Mike (Rockenfeller).  I’m happy that I’m getting the chance to go for another win with what I consider to be a very strong driver line-up for the #8 Starworks Motorsport entry.  I know these guys and I’m particularly happy to be working with Tomas (Enge) again as last time we raced together we were pretty successful.

“Peter Baron’s done a great job of keeping the whole team employed throughout the off-season which is important as we’ve kept all the key people together and not everyone can do that.  We’ve been working hard testing to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be for this race.  Switching to the Ford engine definitely gives our program a boost and I’m confident we’ll have a good Daytona and a good season following that.”

Dalziel concluded, “I personally like our low-key, under-dog status, we’re not one of the ‘big name’ teams but it’s definitely cool to be in an event like this and hang out in the briefing room with the likes of Jimmy Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti as well as the best sports car racers in the world.”

The ‘Rolex 24 at Daytona’, the opening round of the 2011 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, starts at 3pm EST on Saturday 29th January with 24 hours of flat-out endurance racing following on the 3.56-mile road-course layout at Daytona International Speedway.  

The race will be broadcast throughout North America live in parts by SPEED – www.speedtv.com

For info on the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series log on to: www.grand-am.com