Starting off with the fine 3^rd place qualifying by Dane Cameron in the #42 BMW Powered Riley, Team Sahlen made their entrance into the Daytona Prototype Class by contending at the front of the grid.  Even after the start of the race, Team Sahlen continued to contend, rising up to 2^nd place in the early laps, and even leading laps during the early hours.   Like any new endeavor, there were learning processes and 1^st race hiccups to experience.  These experiences saw the #42 Team Sahlen DP keep pace, but drop a few laps during the late night hours of the race.  But come sunrise, after the early morning fog blew away, the #42 saw itself only 1 lap down the leader with 7 hours to go.  But then an unfortunate input shaft put the car behind the wall for extensive repair.  Not ones to give up, the crew worked valiantly, and got back out to salvage a 9^th place finish.

Shared Dane Cameron – “Overall I think we can look back on our first rolex 24 in DP as a success. We ran up front, showed good speed and most importantly we learned a huge amount. Every pit stop and driver change became more fluid and I learned a lot about how to be more efficient through traffic. I am really proud of everyone at Team Sahlen for the effort they put in to give us a reliable and quick car for 24hrs, to finish in the top ten is a huge accomplishment and a great way to start our season. Wayne did an amazing job in the car and was able to bring home his first Truman award in his first DP start!”

Added Special Guest Driver and Indycar Start Simon Pagenaud - “It was a great showing and I really enjoyed to be part of my 1st Rolex 24 with Team Sahlen! We were running strong all day within the top 7! I believe a top 5 was at reach but we got stopped for an hour at 9am Sunday by a mechanical which cost us positions! In the end we finished the race!  I want to point out how great the team did, in their 1st ever race in DP to finish the Rolex 24 which is one of the most demanding race in the world of sportscar!  Dane and Wayne my teammate were tremendous, mistake free, fast and reliable. It was a pleasure to be part of this team and I want to thank them for the opportunity to be part of such a special racing event!”

Of great accomplishment during the event was Wayne Nonnamaker being honored with the Jim Trueman Award for being the top Sportsman Driver in the Daytona Prototype Class during the ROLEX 24 Hours.  Wayne is a past recipient of this award in the GT class, and he is now the 1^st to win in both classes during the ROLEX 24 Hours event.

Wayne shared his gratitude in this accomplishment - “Wow, I have to thank the whole team for putting me in this position to be awarded the Jim Trueman Award for the Daytona race.  If they didn’t work so hard to fix the car, we wouldn’t have got back out and put the laps in and the finishing position to reach this goal.”

Team Sahlen also entered the #43 BMW Powered Daytona Prototype for the event.  Despite several setbacks during the event, the final results showed the #43 entry in 15^th place.

“I am really proud of the crew. They worked hard all weekend and most importantly in the race.  Even despite the severe contact with the wall that necessitated a complete front rebuild, the kept working to get us back on track.  We learned a lot that will help us down the road in the 2013 race season.” – shared Will Nonnamaker

The next event for Team Sahlen will be at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas on March 2^nd.  The race will be televised live on SPEEDTV at 3 pm est.

About Team Sahlen

The 1^st Professional season for the team was in 1984.  Since that time, the team has recorded 53 victories, 158 podiums, 40 Pole Positions and 41 fastest race laps.  Dating back to 2001, Team Sahlen has a rich history in Grand American Competition, highlighted by championships in the Continental Sports Car Series.  This includes ST class Championships in 2001 & 2002, and then GS titles in 2003 & 2004.  Most recently in ROLEX series competition, Team Sahlen has captured the 2005 and 2011 Bob Akin Sportsman Awards in the GT class.  During the 2011 and 2012 race seasons, Team Sahlen captured 1 victory, 5 podiums, 2 pole positions and 2 fastest race laps and well as the most entered team in the ROLEX series. Check out the latest Team Sahlen news at:  www.TeamSahlen.com

GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is supported by:

BMW Motorsports, Dinan Engineering, Design Engineering Inc, Penske Shocks, EMCO Gears, Racing Print Media, Mothers Polish, TheRaceSite.com, DieHardMovie.com, PFC Brakes, Classic Motorsports Magazine, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, BBS Wheels, and Hella Lights