Photo by: Ted Rossino
Freedom Autosport to Race GRAND-AM Rolex Series in a Mazda RX-8
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Freedom Autosport announced today that they will run select GRAND-AM Rolex Series races during the 2012 season, campaigning a Mazda RX-8 in the GT class.
For team co-owners Rhett O’Doski and Derek Whitis, this is a natural extension of their highly successful GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge program. O’Doski and Whitis will co-drive the Mazda RX-8, and Whitis credits Mazda’s outstanding motorsports program as the catalyst that has allowed Freedom Autosport to make this transition.
“Mazda has been a key part of our Continental Tire program, and our Mazda MX-5s have continued to be competitive in the ST class, year after year,” Whitis says. “We want to take that same successful combination of Freedom Autosport and Mazda’s racing pedigree to the next level. We’re excited to be collaborating with Sylvain Tremblay on this project. He runs a first-class organization at Speedsource.”
That successful combination has certainly been apparent in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series. During their first season in 2008, Freedom Autosport earned two podiums and took seventh in the team championship. In 2009, the team took their first two victories. The success continued, and in 2011, Freedom Autosport amassed 15 top-ten finishes, including two wins, en route to giving Mazda the ST manufacturers championship.
“Freedom Autosport has been a top competitor in the ST class for four years. We have an outstanding crew, and we look forward to bringing their skill and professionalism to the GT class of the Rolex Series,” says O’Doski.
In addition to representing Mazda in the Rolex Series, Freedom Autosport will also continue to raise awareness for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides support for injured and ill members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
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