Sunoco Rolex 24 At Daytona Challenge winner and Speed EuroSeries Champion Ivan Bellarosa returned from Daytona happy after his first four days of testing at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) and Daytona with the Daytona Prototype Action Express team. Ivan tested the same #58 Porsche Riley generation one Daytona Prototype that 2012 Sunoco Daytona Challenge winner Felipe Nasr tested in 2011.
VIR 6th/7th of November:
The aim of the VIR test was to give Ivan lots of miles under his belt, away from the public eye in order to get him comfortable in the car before taking on the might of the 31 degree banking of Daytona.The #58 generation one is a low down force specification DP car when compared to the new generation three Corvette DP car. Therefore it was not possible to match the #9 Action Express Corvette at VIR, driven by Brian and Burt Frisselle time-wise. However a 1.8 second time difference was deemed very impressive for Ivan and his first outing in a DP car.Experienced 24-hour racer and fellow Italian Max Papis was drafted in to oversee Ivan's training programme at both VIR and Daytona. Max and Ivan worked together in order to get Ivan up to speed in the car and to learn the track ready for the Rolex 24 At Daytona on the 26th-27th of January.
Daytona 13th/14th of November:
Daytona is a very impressive track with its 31 degrees banking, huge grandstands and history. The day before the official test Ivan was very grateful to be given an exclusive tour of the facilities including the NASCAR offices, race operations room and even the rooftop of the hospitality suits which overlook the whole speedway. In addition Max Papis spent an hour in the Daytona official pace car showing Ivan the lines and secrets of the Daytona track.
With Ivan already familiar with the #58 car he 'just' had to get his head around the Daytona track. To get a time to aim for Max Papis went out and set a time of 1.44.0. Ivan approached Daytona cautiously to start with but quickly got up to speed and posted a time of 1.43.2 early afternoon. Max then went out and set a new target time of 1.42.9 - some 1.2 seconds off the then fastest times with the latest generation three cars. In the afternoon Ivan worked on longer runs, overtaking techniques and consistency, ending the day with a competitive time of 1.42.4.Unfortunately, with Ivan revved up for full stint runs and all set to improve lap times on the second day of testing on Wednesday, the heavens opened only allowing ten laps at the end of the day.
Elton Sawyer, Director of Race Team Operations, Action Express commented: 'Ivan has done everything we hoped for. He is obviously technically talented and very quick. It is very disappointing that the weather put a spanner in the works stopping further improvements the second day'.
Max Papis, Rolex 24 winner said: 'Ivan has been great to work with and got up to speed very quickly. I would be happy to have him as a team mate for the upcoming Rolex 24 At Daytona - the only thing we need to work on is Ivan's technical English vocabulary!
Ivan Bellarosa, Sunoco Daytona Challenge winner was positive about his experience: 'It has been a fantastic experience to come to the US and to work with the experienced Action Express team and Max Papis. The Daytona Prototype is quite different to the Wolf CN car that I'm used to driving in the SPEED EuroSeries. It is more powerful but also less stiff. The cornering speed is lower but I love the acceleration! It was good to have the exclusive test days at VIR to learn the car, because coming to Daytona was an eye opener - the banking is VERY steep! However, the trickiest part of Daytona is the braking from nearly 200mph into corner one and the bus stop. At this pre, pre race test there were only around 20 cars so it will be much busier at the Roar and the race - I can't wait to get back!'
