This weekend, AIM Autosport will be doing battle at two major race events - and both are in Canada. The Grand Am Rolex Daytona Prototype team will be at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Montreal 200 while the Formula Mazda squad will be contesting the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Mosport International Raceway just east of Toronto. Both teams are ready to hit the road with the parking full of trailers and the shop full of cars. This is a picture of the team's five race cars - two Daytona Prototypes (61 &51) and three Star Mazda's (7, 71 & 72) all set to roll onto the trailers first thing Wednesday morning.
This is an important weekend for the DP team as they are the returning champions of the Montreal 200 with Canadian driver Mark Wilkins and it is on record as the closest finish is series history. Mark shared the victory with American Brian Frisselle and this year shares the driving with Brian's brother Burt. It is also the "home race" for the only full time Canadian team in the Rolex Sports Car Series and this year, in addition to looking for a repeat win for the No. 61 Ford Riley, AIM will also be fielding a second car, the Tower Events No. 51 Ford Riley. The No. 51 is a truly all-Canadian entry for the team with drivers John Farano (Toronto) and Jean-Francois Dumoulin (Trois Rivieres) at the wheel. Practice for the Montreal 200 gets underway on Friday with the race at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. It will be broadcast live on SPEED TV starting at 2:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Star Mazda team will be attending their home race at the team's home track, Mosport International Raceway. With just three races to go in the series, AIM's rookie drivers have enjoyed steady improvement and some success as the season progresses. This is also the home track for Canadian David Ostella (71) and he is definitely looking forward to the weekend for his first race on the Grand Prix track. David raced Formula BMW in 2008 but the series did not visit Mosport that year. It will also be the first time for Venezuelan Jorge Goncalvez (72) on the very fast, undulating circuit. Practice gets underway at Mosport on Thursday with qualifying and the race on Saturday. The race is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. ET
From Chris Jameson / AIM Autosport
0 comments:
Post a Comment