GRAND-AM Road Racing’s biggest stars are headed to North America’s biggest city – New York.

The 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Awards Presented by SunTrust will be held at Gotham Hall on the evening of Monday, Oct. 1, rekindling a relationship between NASCAR – GRAND-AM’s parent company – and New York. From 1981-2008, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards event was held in the city.

The Rolex Series Awards will be held two days after the final race of the season, at Lime Rock (Conn.) Park. Driver, team and manufacturers champions will be honored in the Rolex Series’ two classes – Daytona Prototype (DP) and Grand Touring (GT). In addition, the top Pro-Am drivers will be awarded the respective Jim Trueman (DP) and Bob Akin (GT) awards.

Gotham Hall is a featured part of a facility reborn. The hall is inside the 52,000-square-foot Haier Building, located at Broadway and 36th Street in the heart of the city’s Garment District; the building was constructed from 1922-24, with magnificent neo-classical architecture.

Helping facilitate the quick turnaround in travel from Lime Rock to Manhattan will be the Official Hotel Partner of GRAND-AM, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group). In support of the awards, the official hotel for the event will be the InterContinental New York Times Square at 300 W. 44th Street.

“This Midtown Manhattan event will deliver the recognition that drivers, teams, tracks, manufacturers and sponsors involved in the Rolex Series deserve,” said GRAND-AM President and CEO Ed Bennett. “Our collective goal is to continue ‘raising the bar’ in GRAND-AM – on and off the race track. Having our postseason awards presented in New York City obviously does just that. And what a great way to cap off the most significant season in GRAND-AM history, with the season-opening 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona and our upcoming Indianapolis debut among other 2012 highlights.  In addition, our good friends at IHG are proving invaluable in helping make this ambitious project happen. They’re assisting us in securing rooms at a premium hotel in the heart of the city, which will only add to the overall experience for attendees of the awards show."

Shared Team Sahlen's Will Nonnamaker -"It is very exciting for the Banquet to be in New York City.  This is the 1st time the Grand American Awards has been in the Big Apple.  In fact, I don't ever remember any Sports Car Banquet being in Manhattan.  So this really is a 1st.  This should be a lot of fun.”