SCC: Daytona Test: Final report

Bell Motorsports Tops Pre-Season Testing at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 5, 2004) -- After winning the North American Road Racing Championship last season, Bell Motorsports has quickly established itself as a frontrunner for the title in 2004 by leading every day of Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series pre-season testing at Daytona International Speedway. The No. 54 Chevrolet Doran JE-4 turned its fastest lap of the three-day weekend on Sunday with a 1:48.311 at 118.326 mph.

2003 Daytona Prototype champion Terry Borcheller partnered with Forest Barber, Andy Pilgrim and Milka Duno in the No. 54 Chevy during testing.

The No. 58 Red Bull Porsche FABCAR of Brumos Racing posted the second-fastest time of the test on Sunday with its 1:48.635 lap at 117.973 mph. David Donohue and Darren Law and Porsche factory drivers Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr piloted the Red Bull Porsche.

In its first-ever on-track appearance, the No. 01 Comp USA Lexus Riley of Chip Ganassi Racing recorded the third-quickest lap time. Driven by Scott Pruett and Max Papis, the No. 01 Lexus turned a 117.711 mph lap in 1:48.877 mph.

Sporting an all-star lineup that features road racing veteran Andy Wallace, as well as NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart, the No. 2 Chevrolet Crawford of Howard-Boss Racing recorded the fourth-fastest time during testing with a 1:49.038 lap at 117.537 mph.

Rounding out the top-five cars during testing was the Doran-Lista Racing No. 27 Lexus Doran JE-4 of Didier Theys, who clocked a 1:49.747 lap at 116.778 mph. Defending Rolex 24 At Daytona winner The Racer's Group led the GT class during testing. The team's No. 66 Porsche GT3 RS of Kevin Buckler, Jorg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard and Patrick Long had a 1:54.785 lap at 111.652 mph.

Prototype Technology Group's No. 21 BMW M3 of Bill Auberlen, Boris Said, Justin Marks and Joey Hand was number two in the GT class, posting a 1:55.121 at 111.326 mph.

AASCO Motorsports, which decided to forego Monday's test sessions, led the new Super Grand Sport class this weekend with the No. 16 Porsche GT3 Cup of Craig Stanton and David Murry. The No. 16 Porsche recorded a 1:57.074 lap at 109.469 mph on Sunday.

TPC Racing's No. 37 Porsche GT3 Cup was second fastest in the SGS class. The Porsche, which was driven by John Littlechild, Bill Adam, Randy Pobst, Andy Lally and Michael Levitas during testing, clocked a 1:58.266 lap at 108.366 mph.

Istook/Aines Motorsports led Grand-Am Cup Series testing, which was also held at Daytona International Speedway during the three-day weekend. The team's No. 04 Audi S4 of Don Istook, Anders Hainer and Blake Rosser posted a 2:05.934 lap at 101.768 mph.

TheRaceSite.com No. 43 Porsche 996 had the second-fastest lap with a 2:07.188 lap at 100.764 mph. Father Joe Nonnamaker was joined by his sons Will and Wayne in the Porsche this weekend.

In the first professional racing appearance of the new Mazda RX-8, SpeedSource took the No. 70 Mazda to the top of the charts in the Sport Touring division. Drivers Sylvain Tremblay and David Haskell turned a 2:14.321 lap at 95.413 mph to lead the class.

Bill Fenton Motorsports debut its new No. 27 Acura RSX-S during testing and posted the second-fastest Sport Touring time. Bill Fenton, Eric Curran and Bob Beede piloted the car, which recorded a 2:14.437 lap at 95.331 mph.

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