Overland Park, Kan. (March 26, 2009)- In its last day of testing for the upcoming Bosch Engineering 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a Supercar Life sponsored BMW-powered Riley Daytona Prototype, driven by Christophe Bouchut, broke the unofficial Daytona Prototype track record with a lap time of 01:12.421.
Bouchut, a Triple FIA GT Champion, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Spa and 24 Hours of Daytona piloting the No. 55 Supercar Life entry in the Rolex Grand-Am racing series, has now broken two unofficial track records in its class debut this season. Back in October, during the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 October Test Days, the Frenchman drove the No. 55 car to a lap time of 01:39.9, breaking the unofficial circuit record at Daytona International Speedway.
Faced with a two-month layoff between the season-opening Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona event and the April 25 Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway, teams in both the Daytona Prototype and GT classes entered in the test session to begin preparations for the upcoming season ahead.
Co-driving with Bouchut was team owner and current Ferrari Challenge Series leader Scott Tucker. This past weekend Tucker competed in the Ferrari Challenge Series season opener and posted nearly perfect results at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Topping the time sheets in each of the six practice sessions, he secured pole position for race one and, after leading every lap in both races, took the checkered flag twice, sweeping the rest of the competition, vaulting him to the top of the rankings.
Driving first in the car on day one of testing, Tucker turned in an impressive lap time of 01:13.44. Bouchut was next in the No. 55 Daytona Prototype and posted a fastest lap time of 01:12.91.
It was on day two that Tucker and Bouchut ended their sessions in spectacular fashion. After replacing the car's engine and transmission overnight, Tucker drove first that afternoon and turned in a fastest lap time of 01:13.006, beating his time from the previous day. Ozz Negri and Michael Valiente of Michael Shank Racing posted the day's best times (01:12.455 and 01:12.511, respectively) in the Daytona Prototype class until Bouchut ended the last session by breaking the unofficial track record.
Official track records at the 2.3-mile road course are held by David Donohue in a Daytona Prototype, with a time of 01:13.022 (2008) and Boris Said in a GT with a time of 01:19.325 (2004).
Recent Rolex 24 Hours champions David Donohue and Darren Law of Brumos Racing also participated in the test session, manning a pair of Porsche Rileys. Timo Berhard and Romain Dumas shared the Penske Racing Porsche Riley, and Darren Manning and Bill Lester tested their Victory Junction/Orbit Racing BMW Riley.
"Miami's test session went above and beyond our expectations," Christophe Bouchut said. "This was my first time at Homestead-Miami, and the No. 55 ran better than ever; we are more than pleased with the results. Come April, this car will be ready to race and take the checkered flag."
"With the time between both races, this gave all teams in the Rolex Series the chance to prepare their cars and, most importantly, make sure the cars were running well," Scott Tucker said. "Even with the replacement of our engine and transmission, the No. 55 impressed us all with its performance, breaking yet another unofficial circuit record."
Following the April 25 event, the Rolex Series will be in action May 2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park before traveling to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the U.S. Sports Car Invitational on May 17. All three races will be televised live on the SPEED television network.
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