Daytona Test: TRG/TRG East Saturday notes

TRG and TRG East enjoyed a second strong day of testing for the 2005 Rolex 24 At Daytona. 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series SGS co-champion Andy Lally led the team charge with the second-fastest GT time on Saturday evening -- one minute 57.427 seconds on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway infield road course -- in the No. 65 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car he drives with Kevin Buckler, Marc Bunting, Carlos de Quesada and Hugh Plumb.

Four of the six TRG and TRG East cars were in the top-10 in the final Saturday practice -- the Nos. 62, 63 and 65 TRG cars and the No. 61 TRG East Porsche.

Cup cars

Joe and Jay Policastro won the GT class at Daytona in 2004 in the Classic Industries Porsche 911 GT3 RS. This year, they are driving the No. 64 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car with Miguel Amaral and Pedro Couceiro. Joe Policastro noted the differences in the two Porsches:

"These [Cup] cars are based strictly on a street car. It's a bit of an adjustment for us because these cars have a different type of suspension, different brakes -- they have anti-lock brakes -- there's much more power and it's a narrow-body car compared to a wide body. But once you get into the car and you get into a rhythm, you're not comparing, you're just driving what you have. You make your adjustments to your style of driving and go from there."

he drives, too!

Marc Sluszny is a record-holder in bungee jumping from a hot-air balloon and in aerobatics hang-gliding. He is a former Belgian sky surfing champion and a member of a Himalayan expedition that climbed Annapurna without oxygen. He swam the English Channel solo and crewed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. He has also represented Belgium in Davis Cup tennis and in Olympic fencing. Driving for Solid State Racing, the Rolex 24 will be his fourth 24-hour race, following starts at Spa-Francorchamps and Zolder, Belgium. He is driving the TRG traders Porsche with Derek Clark, Pat Flanagan and Dave Master.

"The question should not be, 'Why so many sports?' It should be, 'Why so many dreams?'" Sluszny said. "All of us have different dreams, but we don't really go for them. I've been lucky enough that every time I had a challenge I wanted to do, I did it to the best of my ability, then changed and did something else. So I am constantly progressing instead of getting to a level where it's tough mentally or financially to get that last squeeze out."

total team

TRG is also fielding the No. 16 Team16 Porsche (Brad Coleman, Colin Braun, Adrian Carrio and Ross Bentley) and the No. 62 Porsche Club Japan Porsche (Akira Fujita, Akira Hirakawa, Takashi Inoue, Kiichi Takahashi and Hiroshi Wada). The TRG East Porsche is driven by David Lacey, Robert Nearn, David Shep, Greg Wilkins and Mark Wilkins.

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