Daytona, FL – Grueling, tedious, and competitive are words that described the tension felt at this year’s Roar Before the 24 – the three-day ‘dress rehearsal’ test day that leads up to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Two factors are causing the extra 2012 tension. Firstly, this year’s Rolex 24 is expected to be the most watched in its history because the 2012 event marks the 50th Anniversary of the Florida endurance classic. Perhaps most significantly, this year’s Grand Am playing field has changed the most since the DP-era in 2003. And change brings pressure.
In the GT Class, the winds of change have blown in new competition. The Ferrari 458, Audi R8, and Viper will be joining the existing ranks. The resulting GT atmosphere is one of intensity. As was announced at last year’s Rolex 24, Scuderia Ferrari has been working on a return to Daytona. They are fielding five Grand Am specially prepared 458 Italias with four different teams. Lessons learned from last year’s Ferrari 458 participation in the ALMS has been brought into Grand Am.

It seems Ferrari’s year-long Grand Am 458 preparation efforts paid off. All five Ferrari cars and four teams were in the class’s top 10 best event lap times. The #63 Risi Competizione, the Texas based Ferrari ALMS team, grabbed the gold medal with 1:49.239 at an average speed of 177.32 mph while the silver went to another Maranello-built car, #3 Extreme Speed Motorsports, with 1:49.337 at 177.215 mph.
The DP class has under gone a considerable refreshing of the rules. Gone are the days when DP cars look like foul engineering exercises and have no resemblance to actual production cars. Grand Am has decided to give teams the flexibility of incorporating styling cues from street cars. This has been achieved in three ways; 1) letting frontal cross-sections be sloped slightly more upright, 2) providing more flexibility to side bodywork guidelines, and 3) a one inch zone throughout the greenhouse surface – such as the windshield and window outlines – to allow for unique styling cues. The basic chassis, suspension, engine, bellhousing, gearbox, electronics and fueling rules remain the same as last year. The goal of these changes is to better market the DP class to automotive manufacturers interested in racing.
Judging from the results of the Roar Before the 24 the Corvette DPs have the edge. In the top 40 event lap times posted the Corvette DP earned 30 of those spots. The top gun was Max Angelelli in his #10 Sun Trust Racing Corvette DP that did an impressive 1:41.142 at an average speed of 126.712 mph on the third test day.

Daytona24hr.com will be updating its picture galleries during qualify and the race. We are the “Click and See Race Action” source for this year’s 2012 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. With photography that’s taken from the pits, garage, and track side, we bring the experience to you. So, be sure to check back during the race for continual updates.
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