Laguna Seca: Spirit of Daytona preview

For Spirit of Daytona co-owner/driver, Doug Goad, there are some things more important than racing, that would be his family. Goad will be missing the qualifying race at the Mazda Raceway, the promoter's test day, and everything else that will be happening before the May 7th race at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Doug Goad will be celebrating his daughter's graduation from Michigan State University.

Goad will fly into San Jose in time for Sunday's race and in his place for testing throughout the race weekend will be 2005 Spirit of Daytona teammate, Marc-Antoine Camirand. Camirand will help out the team with car setup and lap times. He provided Spirit of Daytona with insightful information and comments on the Oh-Boy Oboerto sponsored 09 DP's setup in Virginia and will be coaching Spirit of Daytona driver, Larry Oberto as well.

This will be Oberto's first time racing at the hilly Northern California racecourse. "I am looking forward to getting into the car again and having Marc's input will be beneficial. Camirand has a plethora of knowledge on the 09 DP and will help me fine-tune my skills behind the wheel," said Oberto.

With the 6th race into the schedule the team is still looking for the raw speed that has yet to be uncovered. Troy Flis, team-owner manager says, " The car has been performing beautifully, we have been making a few changes each race weekend, but we are still looking for that underlining speed that we need. Having Goad in Michigan for the majority of the race weekend will not harm us too much. He will just need to catch up on Sunday morning. Goad has been racing for a while so I know he will be able to jump in the DP without too much of a learning curve."

-sod