Posted (01/21/2009) -
Team Sahlen will be entering this weekend's KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner event with high hopes of a Top 5 finish. Under normal circumstances, a Top 5 in the Street Tuner class is quite an accomplishment. But at Daytona, with over 30 cars entered in the class, a Top 10 will be a significant achievement
Not only will there be 30 Street Tuner racers on track, but simultaneously, there will be 30 Grand Sports class racers on the pavement as well. This will make for 60 race cars pounding around Daytona for what will surely be an exciting race to not only be in, but to be a spectator.
"We had a great test in January with the Mazda RX-8. The team learned a lot and found a really good set up. I really enjoy the fun and excitement of the Street Tuner class. With the race being 3 hours long, a lot can happen. Hopefully we will stay out of trouble and be ready to go for it at the end of the race." - states Joe Sahlen
"There will be a lot of fast Street Tuner racers out here this weekend. Our RX-8 really handles well, and we are hoping for a long run under green flag conditions for the faster cars to wear their tires out. At the end of long shifts is when the Mazda really starts to come into its own. Last year we were 2 laps away from finishing in 5th place when we ran out of gas. I feel like this year we have some unfinished business from the 2008 race." - states Will Nonnamaker
The 2009 Team Sahlen KONI Challenge Series Campaign is support by HRPWorld.com, HAWK Performance, Cool Shirt, TheRaceSite.com, Grassroots Motorsports, Holliday Canopies, CM Racing, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting and Mazdaspeed.