2008 News

Orlando, Florida (June 18, 2008) – Keen to put a disappointing Watkins Glen race meeting behind him, Scotland’s Ryan Dalziel heads to Lexington’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend for Round 7 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16, the ‘EMCO Gears Classic’, Friday 20th – Saturday 21st June.

Having steered the #2 SAMAX Motorsport BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype to victory in Round 5 at Laguna Seca last month, Dalziel, together with team-mate Henri Zogaib, hoped for more of the same a fortnight ago at Watkins Glen but an early trip to the pits for an oil-leak put paid to any hopes of back-to-back wins as the car immediately fell three laps down on the leaders – a gap that proved insurmountable despite the best efforts of both team and drivers on the day.

While Watkins Glen hosted its annual six-hour event, the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course sees a return to Grand-Am’s regular 2-hour 45-minute sprint race format this weekend.  On his last visit to the track in 2006, at the corresponding race meeting, Ryan enjoyed a sixth place finish in what was his rookie season in Daytona Prototype competition.  

The year before the Scottish ace wracked up two starts at Mid-Ohio, the first resulting in a fourth place class finish piloting a GT1 American Le Mans Series entry while the second, later in the year, ended in retirement behind the wheel of a SAMAX-entered Porsche GT3 Cup Car in the GT division of the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series.

Saturday’s event marks the half-way stage of the 14-round 2008 Grand-Am season with 19 Daytona Prototype entries lined up to start along with 23 GT runners ensuring a packed and competitive field as witnessed at each event since kick-off at Daytona back in January.  Dalziel currently sits 15th overall in the Driver Standings courtesy of the 26-year-old recording three top-ten finishes to-date including his Laguna Seca victory and second-place podium effort in Virginia.

“I think we’ll bounce back from our Watkins disappointment and have a good run at Mid-Ohio,” stated Dalziel.  “We’re as prepared as we can be and definitely looking forward to a return to the sprint format after a long weekend in New York last time out.  The track’s up there as one of my favourites so I’m looking forward to getting back out there and hopefully re-capturing last month’s form.

“I’ve been to Mid-Ohio on a few occasions now and for the most part my results have been pretty good but I’m still chasing a podium there.  I enjoy the fast, flowing layout of the track and it seems to suit my driving style pretty well.  I’m confident we should have a strong package there with the SAMAX BMW-Riley.  I love the fact that we’re racing every couple of weeks now although I’d race every week if I could!  Competing regularly certainly helps build up some momentum as we proved in Virginia and Laguna Seca in May.”

Daytona Prototype qualifying starts at 4:50pm EST on Friday 20th June with the ‘EMCO Gears Classic’, Round 7 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, starting at 5pm EST on Saturday 21st June.

SPEED will broadcast the race live from Mid-Ohio starting at 5pm EST – www.speedtv.com 

For further series information please log on to – www.grand-am.com