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2016 News

Visit Florida Racing Heads South to Sebring International Raceway

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DRIVING AT SEBRING: Ryan Dalziel, Marc Goossens, Ryan Hunter-Reay will drive the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype.
 
RACING AT ‘HOME’: In terms of racing at the home track, none comes closer to home than Daytona International Speedway for Visit Florida Racing. But a close second is Sebring International Raceway located some 150 miles south of the Visit Florida Racing race shop. For Ryan Dalziel, who lives just outside of Orlando, Sebring is his home track, and with Ryan Hunter-Reay 150 miles south of the Sebring road course in Fort Lauderdale, it’s also the closest stop of his four IMSA races.


 
HISTORY IN MOBIL 1 TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING: On the way to finishing second in the IMSA championship last year, Visit Florida Racing took third in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It was the second consecutive podium of the year for the Daytona Beach, Florida-based team.
 
 Sebring 2014: Michael Valiante, Richard Westbrook, Mike Rockenfeller – Started: 7th, Finished: 10th
 Sebring 2015: Michael Valiante, Richard Westbrook, Mike Rockenfeller – Started: 10th, Finished: 3rd
 
VISIT FLORIDA DRIVERS AT SEBRING: Between the three Visit Florida drivers, the trio has 19 starts in the 12 Hours of Sebring. They’ve actually even been teammates in the race before with Dalziel and Goossens driving together in 2013 for SRT Motorsports and then Hunter-Reay and Goossens teaming together in 2014 for SRT Motorsports. Dalziel claimed a class win in 2012 and Hunter-Reay took home a class win in 2011. All three target their first overall win in the 12 Hours of Sebring this weekend.
 
SEBRING FUN FACT: Ryan Dalziel’s wife Jessica grew up in Sebring.
 
2016 CHAMPIONSHIP PURSUIT: Heading into the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener, Visit Florida Racing had a firm focus on emerging as the 2016 IMSA Champions. That championship pursuit got off to a good start with a third place podium finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona after 736 laps of racing. Visit Florida Racing looks to carry that momentum into this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring.
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY FRESH OFF INDYCAR SEASON-OPENER: Ryan Hunter-Reay took a podium finish of third in the Grand Prix of St. Pete on Sunday. He will be back in IndyCar action through the streets of Long Beach April 15-18 when he will pull double-duty and also race the IMSA event for Visit Florida Racing.
 
RAZZLE DAZZLE: If you’re flying into the Orlando airport on your way to Sebring, stop by HotKrust Panini Kitchen located at 8015 Turkey Lake Rd. Suite #200 in Orlando and try the Razzle Dazzle Panini – the signature panini, designed by and named for Ryan Dalziel! The panini, made up of Slow-Cooked Steak, Strawberry Jam, Sriracha-BBQ Sauce, Onions, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Banana Peppers, Cilantro and Provolone Cheese, is the store’s best seller!
 
TROY’S TAKE: “I’m excited. I think you’re always excited coming back to a big event like this. We know we have good durable race cars, we proved at Daytona that the Visit Florida car was good. The drivers are getting more and more used to the car. I’m really happy with the driver line up that we have. We come here to win, everyone does, but I have a lot higher hopes here at Sebring. After the test last month, we learned a lot over those two days so I’m hoping we can keep that going. As far as the learning curve of the team with the new people we’ve put in place this year between the drivers and the engineering, I think we’ve advanced a lot in a short period of time. So I’m hoping that the learning curve keeps growing the way that it is. I’m excited, I think we have a good shot at winning the race.”
 
DRIVER QUOTEBOARD:
Ryan Dalziel: “We left Daytona encouraged by strong points and a reliable car, but not as encouraged about our pace so it was great to have a good test at Sebring. We’re looking forward to getting back for the race. Obviously we have a Visit Florida sponsored car, and it’s my home race, so for us it’s important to have a good showing. We feel like we’re pretty quick. We want to put on a good show for all of our Visit Florida guests. We’re encouraged by the speed of the car and hopefully when we get back to Sebring for the race we’ll still have that same speed we had at the test.”
 
Marc Goossens: “Obviously we’re looking forward to Sebring because we already went through the first test of getting in a full race at Daytona. We had some issues prior to that race, but then we had a very good solid race and came away with a podium. I think that the Rolex 24 was the first opportunity to really get to know everybody on the team. Understanding how to best communicate with the engineers and everything. I’ve teamed with both Ryans (Dalziel and Hunter-Reay) at Sebring before so it’s good to have some experience with your teammates and we all know what we have between the three of us. This type of car (DP) at Sebring is new for me. I’ve done this race many times back in the ALMS days and then again with IMSA in GT cars, but never in a DP. So it’s new but that’s why testing is good. That’s why we had a two-day test prior to the 12 hours. It’s looking good, I’m very optimistic about it. We had a solid race in Daytona and so now I’m just expecting to go two steps higher on that podium and pull off a win here!”
 
Ryan Hunter-Reay: “Following our podium finish at the Rolex 24, I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the No. 90 Visit Florida Corvette DP.  The Sebring 12 hour is one of the highlights of the year for me and it just so happens to be my home race.  Visit Florida Racing had a great test making strides in developing the car’s setup to suit this notoriously bumpy race track.  Marc (Goossens), Ryan (Dalziel) and I all have very similar driving styles which makes the setup process much more efficient.  I’ve been fortunate enough to take home a class victory in this historic event, now we’re all focused on taking home the overall victory.”Visit Florida.com Racing 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Drivers:
 

Ryan Dalziel
 Birth Date: 12th April 1982
 Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland UK
 Residence: Windermere, Florida USA
 Website: www.ryandalziel.com
 Twitter: @ryan_dalziel
 
Marc Goossens
 Birth Date: 30 November 1969
 Birthplace: Geel, Belgium
 Residence: Westerlo, Belgium
 Website: www.marcgoossens.com
 Twitter: @marcthegoose

Ryan Hunter-Reay
Birth Date: 17 December 1980
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
Residence: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Website: www.ryanracing.com
Twitter: @RyanHunterReay

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