June 28, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Legendary Sports Car Driver Andy Wallace will be joining Team Sahlen at this weekend’s Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

Not only will this be Andy’s first opportunity to drive the Mazda RX-8 developed by SpeedSource Engineering; this will be Andy’s first opportunity to drive in the GT class of the Rolex Series.

“I’m very grateful to Joe Sahlen and the Team for giving me this opportunity to return to the Rolex Sports Car Series,” Wallace said. “The GT class is extremely competitive and I’m looking forward to some great racing at Daytona International Speedway this weekend. Although I haven’t driven will Will Nonnamaker before, we have shared the race track on many occasions in the past. I’ve always noticed how well prepared Team Sahlen’s cars are and I’m thrilled to be driving one of their fabulous Mazda RX-8s for the first time this week.”

Co-Driving with Wallace in the No. 42 Team Sahlen Mazda will be Will Nonnamaker. Will is the 2005 Bob Akin Sportsman GT Class Winner.

“I am excited to have Andy as my co-driver for this weekend’s event at Daytona International Speedway,” Nonnamaker said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge that I know I will be valuable for the team and me to learn from. Although Andy will be new to the GT class racing, I think he is going to really enjoy the competition. The ROLEX GT series is very close racing this year, and when you do well in GT, you know you have taken on the best of the best and come out on top.”

Although new to the GT class, Andy is no stranger to finding success at Daytona International Speedway, having won the historic twice around the clock 24 hour event an amazing 3 times overall. Additionally, Andy has also finished 3rd overall twice and captured the 2003 GTS class victory in ROLEX 24 at Daytona.

“It is a great honor to have Andy Wallace as a part of Team Sahlen and MAZDASPEED at this weekend’s event at Daytona,” Joe Sahlen said. “His record speaks for itself; Three 24 Hours of Daytona victories, Two Sebring 12 Hour victories and a LeMans 24 Hour victory. Since the start of the season, Team Sahlen’s goal has been to assist Mazda in winning the GT Class Manufacturer’s Championship. We had a very strong run with both the #42 & #43 at Mid-Ohio, and we hope to continue down that path this weekend with Andy in our Driver Line Up.”

Team Sahlen will be entering the No. 42 and No. 43 Mazda RX-8s for the event. Co-Driving the No. 43 will be the father and son duo of Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker. At the recent ROLEX event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Wayne had the distinction of setting the second fastest race lap.

The Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway will take the green flag on Saturday, July 3rd at 11 a.m., and be televised same day at 1 p.m. on SPEED.

The 2010 Team Sahlen GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 and GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Campaigns will be supported by Mazda, Mazdaspeed, HRPWorld.com, HAWK Performance, Cool Shirt, Racetech Seats, BBS, Racing Print Media, Alcon, Mothers Polish, EMCO, TheRaceSite.com, Grassroots Motorsports, Holliday Canopies, Alcon, CM Racing, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting, Bell Helmets, Castrol, Ianetti Design, and SpeedSource Engineering.

source http://www.grand-am.com