< Back to News Home Team Sahlen excited about return to spring date for Barber event

Posted (03/18/2011) -

The 2011 edition of the ROLEX event at Barber Motorsports Park will take place in the spring: actually April 9th to be exact.  In the inaugural 2003 season for Barber Motorsports Park, The Grand American series visited the Alabama track in the spring.  During this event, Team Sahlen had entered race cars in both the Continental Tire Series GS and ST classes.  During that season, the GS and ST races were separate events.  For the ST event, the team entered 3 Acura Integras.  The race was a complete Spring downpour, with parts of the track flooded.  Team Sahlen’s Will Nonnamaker battled hard and missed out on 1st place by mere inches to the Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura driven by Bob Beede, ending the race with Team Sahlen securing 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in the race.  In the following day’s event, the sunshine shown through.  The team battled back from an early race collision to secure the class victory.   The following year, the event was moved to the fall, where again Team Sahlen was successful in securing 1st, 3rd, 6th in the Continental Tire GS class race.  From 2006 forward, the event has been run in the heat of the Alabama summer.  And with that date move, Team Sahlen has not seen that type of success again at Barber.

 

“We are excited to be back at Barber Motorsports Park in the spring again.  This is a beautiful track, and it’s great to get out of the cold Northeast to the sunny weather of Alabama in the spring.” – shares Will Nonnamaker

 

For 2011, Team Sahlen will be entering their SpeedSource built Mazda RX-8s in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 event at Barber Motorsports Park.  The team will be entering their #42 Mazda RX-8 with Wayne Nonnamaker and Memo Gidley. Additionally, Joe Nonnamaker will be paired with his son Will in the #43 racer. 

 

Currently, Team Sahlen is in 8th position in the GT Class Team Standings.  Also, Wayne Nonnamaker is leading the Bob Akin Sportsman Award Standings for the GT class.  At this point in the season last year, Wayne was leading the Award, only to trail off at the end of the season to third in the standings.  This was partially due to Team Sahlen missing the Lime Rock and Montreal events.  With Team Sahlen set to run the full 2011 schedule, Wayne is full positioned to repeat the success that his brother Will accomplished in the inaugural 2005 season of the Akin award.

 

Wayne Nonnamaker shared - “Barber Motorsports Park is set to be a kingpin event for us.  At the conclusion of this event, the season will be 25% completed.  Gaining momentum from this event can have positive effect on our whole season.  I really like this track.  You are always busy and to get a fast lap, you have to constantly be up on the wheel hustling the car.  I know the Mazda RX-8 is up to the task.  Now it’s just up to everyone at Team Sahlen to execute on race day to achieve those results.”

 

Sharing Top Billing on the race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park with the ROLEX series will be the Indy Racing League.  One individual who is no stranger to the adventures and escapades of open wheel racing is former Indy Car driver Memo Gidley.  For 2011, Memo is the lead finishing driver for Team Sahlen in the #42 RX-8.

 

"I am really looking forward to racing at the Barber Motor-sports track.  It is such a fantastic track to drive with the character of the turns and the awesome chicanes throughout.  And the number of fans that turn up just makes it a really fun weekend." And Memo Gidley finishes his thoughts with, "Team Sahlen has been working really hard to get to the front of the GT pack and our efforts are paying off.  We have had great pace in the first two events but a couple of problems have kept us from really finishing where we should have.  However, this season is early, and our team gets stronger and stronger every weekend.  It has been satisfying to see Team Sahlen develop into a GT class contender, and it would be fantastic if we could finish on the podium at Barber.  I am excited to see what we can accomplish."

 

Although all 3 Team Sahlen Mazdas ended Round 2 at Homestead in one piece, this doesn’t mean that the crew has been taking time off on vacation. Team Manager Jay Chapman explains – “The crew has been very busy.  Lead Engineer Catherine Crawford Wallace and the full technical group at Team Sahlen have been busy working on ways to make the RX-8 even faster.  And this has led to several busy days by the crew working on these enhancements.  I am pumped for the Barber weekend.  It should be a real fun one with the GT field seeming to be more competitive than ever.”

 

Round 3 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 at Barber Motorsports Park on April 9th will be televised live on SPEED TV.

 

 

The 2011 Team Sahlen GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 is supported by Mazda, Mazdaspeed, HRPWorld.com, Cool Shirt, Racetech Seats, BBS, Racing Print Media, Alcon, Mothers Polish, EMCO, TheRaceSite.com, Western New York Flash, Grassroots Motorsports, Castrol Oil, Holliday Canopies, ASC Industries, Muscle Milk, Iannetti  Design Ideas, CM Racing

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