Utah: Brumos Racing preview

Brumos Racing Welcomes New Challenges and Miller Changes

Jacksonville, FL: For the past three years, Miller Motorsports Park has provided a scenic backdrop for the final round of the Grand-Am Rolex Series season. The modern racing facility near Salt Lake City was newly opened in 2006 when it hosted its first Grand-Am competition. Since that time, returning to Miller has signaled the end of another season for Brumos Racing.

Aside from being the traditional season finale, several other factors set the Miller competition apart from other races in the Grand-Am season schedule. Since its inception, the event has been run as an endurance race, evolving from its original nine hours to a seven hour format for 2008. Due to the length of the competition, many teams elected to add a third driver for their Miller lineup. The layout of the track is both challenging and unique, featuring 4.486 miles and 24 turns. It is by far the longest road course visited by the Rolex Series, resulting in laps almost twice as long as those seen at most tracks. This year's competition brings a break in tradition and two notable changes, with the 2009 event being neither an endurance race nor the season finale.

Brumos Racing has long been renowned for their endurance racing prowess, but the Miller race has thus far proven to be a challenging one for them. Last season's race was the first to see both the #58 and #59 Brumos cars score a top ten finish. Brumos' drivers are eager to return to Miller with hopes of changing their luck in this year's sprint race format there.

David Donohue recalled the #58 car's history at Miller, saying, "In 2006, we had just switched to the Riley chassis, so we were still in a learning curve at the Miller race. The following two years, we had a really fast car and were competitive, but each of those years we had other problems that set us back. I don't see any particular advantage or disadvantage for us because of the change from an endurance to sprint format - I think we have proven how strong we are in either type of competition. I am very optimistic about our chances at Miller this year and regardless of the format, I really believe we can turn our season around with our last two races."

Brumos #59 driver Joao Barbosa, who raced at Miller for his first time last year, shares Donohue's optimism, saying "It's a very particular track, as it is very long, but I really enjoyed it. Last year we had a strong finish there to end our season and I feel this year we are even stronger. In our last race at Montreal we were very competitive. Had we not been hit and taken out of the race, I believe we could have had our best result of the year. Our main goal for the Miller race is to earn as many points as possible and keep J.C. in the lead for the Trueman Award. Last year's 4th place finish there boosted us into third place overall for the championship, so I hope this year we will also be able to gain some positions in the standings. Besides that, I still want to get on the podium again before the end of this season."

-credit: br