TO A TWO-CAR TEAM PAYS OFF BIG
WITH BOTH CARS FINISHING IN THE TOP-10 AT MEXICO CITY
Both cars finished on the lead lap, with the #77 Kodak Ford Doran/Dallara driven by Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger moving up fro 14th in the starting grid to run as high as 2nd and finally place 7th. The brand-new #47 BSI/CDOC/Anasten Plus Ford Dallara of Burt Frisselle and Gabriele Gardel qualified 5th and finished 9th in its very first outing -- this despite enduring a stop-and-go penalty for a pit lane speed violation.
“We were fast in practice, fast in the race and overall it was a good weekend for the Doran Racing team,” said Gidley, who drove a 2-hour and 15-minute stint during the race and was at the wheel when the checkered flag flew. “A combination of speed and strategy got us up to second with an hour to go in the race, but we put just a touch too much rear aero in the car which made the car push and I couldn’t hold the position. For a while there I thought we were going to finish on the podium, but the most important thing is that all our hard work is beginning to pay off and there’s a real feeling of confidence in the team. We had a top-10 this weekend, we’re expecting a top-5 at VIR next weekend and a podium isn’t far away.”
Brad Jaeger, in his first-ever visit to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, put in a highly credible effort to qualify the #77 Kodak car in 14th on the starting grid with a lap of 1:21.712 (110.142 mph) – particularly since his only prior exposure to the highly technical, 2.5-mile, 14-turn course was via in-car videos he found on YouTube and a video game he downloaded to his Playstation. Having qualified, he also started the race until handing the car over to Gidley, who co-drove to victory in this event in 2005. Proving once again his incredible level of physical fitness, Gidley drove a 2-hour and 15-minute double stint and was at the wheel when the checkered flag fell.
The #47 BSI/CDOD car of Frisselle and Gardel also put in a remarkable performance given that it had never turned a wheel under power until the first practice session in Mexico City on Thursday. Frisselle qualified the car in fifth with a lap of 1:20.141 (112.302 mph) and started the race; Gardel was in the car at the finish.
“I couldn’t be happier with how the car behaved mechanically, and with the professionalism and dedication of the Doran Racing team,” says Frisselle. “The car was fast and worked perfectly, aside from a little issue with the pit lane speed limiter button which didn’t engage properly and cost us a stop-and-go penalty. Even with that, its obvious we have a competitive package, our engineer called a great race strategy and we’re all excited to move on to VIR next weekend and see what we can do now that we have some experience with the car.”
With a 2008 record of 16th at Daytona, 17th at Miami and 7th at Mexico City, the #77 car stands 14th in the team championship battle with 53 points. The #47 car with only one 9th-place finish is 25th in the championship with 22 points. Thirty-five teams are entered in the team championship. In the driver points battle, Gidley and Jaeger are tied for 24th with 53 points each, while Frisselle is 30th with 44 points and Gardel is 37th with 37 points. More than a hundred drivers are entered in the driver championship.
Twelve races remain on the 2008 schedule, with the next event scheduled for this coming weekend at Virginia International Raceway. Action at the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR begins on Saturday, April 25th, with the 15-minute qualifying session scheduled for 3:50 to 4:05 pm Saturday afternoon. The 250-mile/77-lap/2 3/4-hour Bosch Engineering 250 will take the green flag at 1:00 pm on Sunday, April 27.
The two cars the Doran Racing team will field throughout the 2008 Rolex Series season look the same, but are different underneath. The #47 car is all-Dallara, while the #77 car is a Doran chassis fitted with Dallara bodywork featuring enhanced aerodynamics and increased downforce. Both cars are powered by 500 horsepower Roush-Yates Ford V-8 engines.
Doran Enterprises is Dallara's official spare parts distributor and approved repair center for that series. In addition, Doran Designs will fabricate certain special parts for the marque. Doran Racing has a successful history of working with Dallara and won the Daytona 24 Hours in 2002 with a Dallara Sportscar LMP1. While Doran Racing has prepared and fielded race cars in a wide variety of series for many years, from Indy cars to NASCAR trucks, the Lebanon, Ohio-based team is particularly noted for its successes in sports car endurance racing, including being the first and only team in U.S. history to win the 24 Hours at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Watkins Glen Six-Hour race in the same year.
