Some news and notes from sports car racing:
A year ago at about this time, Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer turned up his nose – almost literally – when asked if he had any interest in driving a Ferrari 458 Italia GT car for/with his then-new NASCAR team owner, Michael Waltrip.
“Nah,” the Kansas native said with [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Some random racin’ thoughts:
Juan Pablo Montoya may want to give the safety equipment in his BMW Riley prototype some extra attention before he takes to the track in this year’s Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona International Speedway.
Montoya, the former Formula 1 bad boy, has morphed neatly into being the Grand-Am [...]

RacinToday.com
News and notes from the weekend’s Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series’ three-day Roar Before the 24 practice at Daytona International Speedway:
Michael Shank Racing matched its results from the 2012 Rolex 24 by placing first and third at the test.
Michael Valiante posted the fastest lap of the “Roar” in Sunday’s final session in the team’s No. [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón announced the initial concept for the organizations’ unified competition class structure that will debut in January 2014 at the 52nd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The lineup, unveiled during a teleconference Friday,  will be in effect [...]

There is no one, single starting date for the American auto racing season. Instead, there are several key events that combine to mark the start. Like this week’s Roar Before the 24 at the Daytona International Speedway infield road course.
The Roar is an open practice for teams and drivers planning to compete in the historic [...]

By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Awoke on New Year’s Day after dreaming I had driven my Guards Red 1987 Porsche Turbo off of something called a “Fiscal Cliff.” Actually, that was probably a delayed reaction to my latest repair bill.
As for that cliff, I drove off of that sucker in June of 2008, when I [...]

RacinToday.com
A world-class lineup featuring Allan McNish, Alex Popow, Ryan Dalziel and Sébastien Bourdais will pilot the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Riley/Ford Daytona Prototype during the season-opening 51st GRAND-AM Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 26-27, 2013.
In 2012 Starworks became the first LMP2 Champions in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the first North American team [...]

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Leaning against a counter top in his Starworks Motorsport hauler last Saturday, Peter Baron burped out a sarcastic laugh when it was suggested to him that 2012 must have been his best year in racing. Ever.
The ever-young-looking Starworks owner reached into the front pocket of his pants and pulled out a [...]

By Jonathan Ingram | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Rebellion Racing came to the Petit Le Mans looking for its first over-all victory, a task made tougher for the Anglo-Swiss team because the race fell between the WEC rounds at Fuji and Shanghai. Arriving with its third car, Rebellion ran a trouble free race to win from the pole.
After [...]

Neel Jani of Rebellion Racing took the pole for this weekend’s Petit Le Mans sports car race at Road Atlanta with a lap of 1:09.089 (132.351 mph) in his No. 12 Lola-Toyota coupe – the first honor in ALMS for the Swiss team.
Switzerland’s Jani was 0.339 seconds clear of Lucas Luhr in Muscle Milk Racing’s [...]