for the Daytona 24 Hours
Geneva-based Harold Primat has been confirmed by the Spirit of Daytona team for the forthcoming 2006 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, on 28th and 29th January. The thirty year-old sportscar driver will join Frenchman Stephane Gregoire and team co-owner Doug Goad at the wheel of the V8, 550bhp Crawford Pontiac car. This is Primat’s first attempt at the Grand American Championship’s blue ribbon event and he is delighted to be returning to the US for this prestigious race. Harold Primat said: “I am delighted to join the Spirit of Daytona team and I look forward to my first endurance race of the 2006 season. This is an event I have always wanted to compete in; alongside Le Mans and Sebring, Daytona is one of the greats of endurance racing. It has a wonderful history and it will be a privilege to race there.”Harold Primat is no stranger of racing in America. He successfully competed in an LMP2 car at Sebring in 2005 and also raced in US Formula Ford 2000 in 1999 and 2000. Harold said: “I love racing in the US and I am delighted to be going back there. I have never raced in Daytona but I am sure I will enjoy it. Racing over there is fantastic because the events themselves are so well organised, the atmosphere from the spectators is electric and the TV coverage is always excellent. I enjoyed racing at Sebring last year in the ALMS. It was a fantastic event for me, my first ever sports car race at international level. I was driving the LMP2 Courage of Kruse Motorsport and I could not believe that at one stage, I was leading the race overall, in front of the two Audis!! You cannot go better than that! In the end we finished second in the LMP2 class, following some engine problems.”Primat continued: “This year, Daytona is going to be a major event, as the GrandAm Series is getting more and more popular and the hard work by the Championship organisers is starting to pay off. I am impressed with the line-up of drivers, such as Dan Wheldon, Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti to name but a few. I really look forward to racing against them.”Harold Primat has yet to confirm the details of his 2006 racing programme – an announcement is planned in the coming weeks. Harold Primat said: “My main objective for 2006 is the Le Mans 24 Hours and Daytona is an integral part of my preparation for that. I raced at Le Mans for the first time last year and learned that 24 Hour races are different from anything else. Experience is very important, especially when it’s dark. To drive another 24 Hour race will help me to be better prepared for June, particularly for the night-time stints.” Harold travels to the US on the 18th January and will test the Spirit of Daytona car on Friday 20th. Primat said: “The team did not attend the official test at the beginning of January but we planned to test the car at Savannah, Georgia. This will help me learn the car, as I have never driven a GrandAm prototype before and I can’t wait to open it up! I spoke with a few drivers who’ve already raced prototypes at Daytona and they all said that they were good fun to drive.” Harold Primat continued: “I am quite well prepared for this race physically. I spent a week training in Saint Moritz with the British Olympic rowing team. We had a busy schedule with cross country skiing, gym and indoor rowing! I am sure this hard work will pay off during the race.” Harold concluded: “Spirit of Daytona is a very experienced team; it has competed at Daytona twelve times and has been racing in GrandAm for the past two years. I feel that we have a good team and if we stay out of trouble, we should be there at the end of the race, hopefully scoring a good result.”2006 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Thursday 26th January10.00am – 11.30am Practice1.30pm – 2.30pm Practice3.45pm – 4.00pm Qualifying – Prototypes (sets top 30 grid positions)6.30pm – 8.00pm PracticeFriday 27th January9.00am – 9.45am Practice11.40am – 12.00pm Final qualifying (grid positions 31 and higher)1.00pm – 1.45pm Final practiceSaturday 28th January12.00pm Start – 44th Rolex 24 at Daytona
