Posted (11/15/2012) -
Team Sahlen entered the November Grand American ROLEX Test at Daytona International Speedway with high hopes of a clean weekend. The goals of the test were to have all 5 drivers get plenty of seat time, and to as well continue learning the BMW - Riley, looking for the optimal set up for the ROLEX 24 Hours at Daytona.
The fantastic news is that despite a few new car hiccups and some rain on Wednesday morning, these goals were accomplished and more.
With both the #42 & #43 Daytona Prototype in action on the famous high banks of Daytona, each driver had time to get behind the wheel. This included Joe Sahlen, Joe Nonnamaker, Dane Cameron, Wayne Nonnamaker and Will Nonnamaker.
Dane Cameron shared his thoughts on the test – “There wasn't really a better place to run both our new Daytona prototypes for the first time than Daytona. While the weather didn't allow us to get the amount of laps we had hoped for we were still able to learn a fair amount about both cars. We still have lots to learn but I am very proud of everyone at Team Sahlen has done to get us to this point. Everyone has been working flat out the last few weeks to get both cars on track this week so I can't thank them enough for the long hours!”
What Dane Cameron failed to mention in his interview was the fact that the #42 with Dane driving placed 4th fastest in both the Day 1 and Day 2 Time Sheets.
“To be honest, this was a statistic that was not on our radar coming into the test. We had high hopes, but being so well placed so quickly was never one of our goals. I think this speed is more a result of the significant due diligence put in by all on the team to ensure that we would come out running at full speed at the test. So many details checked off, so many items decided upon and so many pre-test items put together to ensure this pace right away.” – shared Will Nonnamaker
Now the Team Sahlen crew heads home for some much needed rest and regrouping over the Thanksgiving week to further work on ideas gained from the test.
GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is supported by:
BMW Motorsports, Design Engineering Inc, Penske Shocks, CV Products, SimXperience, Alcon, EMCO Gears, Racing Print Media, Mothers Polish, TheRaceSite.com, Western New York Flash, Classic Motorsports Magazine, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, BBS Wheels, MSI Racing Products, and Endurance Karting
