Rice, Spirit of Daytona Racing Ready for Indianapolis Test
Spirit of Daytona Racing will be part of history on Thursday as the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 participates in a special test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice will drive the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche-V8-powered Coyote in the test, which will likely utilize both road-course layouts at the track during the day.
"I'm looking forward to getting back to Indy," said Rice, who opened the 2009 season with a victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. "It's going to be awesome. It's great to be taking part in really, with the exception of the F1 cars, to be taking part in the first group to go run on the MotoGP circuit and the F1 circuit outside of Formula One or the bikes. I think it's exciting. I think it would be really cool if they ended up having a race there. Obviously Indianapolis holds a special place in my heart because of what's happened there in the past. It's extremely exciting."
The test will allow the Daytona Beach-based team to participate in the historical debut at the track, and also give the team another opportunity to generate new data about the newest specification Coyote chassis.
"I think it's gone quite well," said Rice when asked about the progress being made on the Coyote-Porsche V8 pairing. "I think (team owner) Troy (Flis) is putting together a great program. I know he's definitely working on the future and we're developing with Coyote chassis with the Porsche V8 power. It's getting better and better. I think the more testing, the more they run, the more we're all learning. I think everybody's growing together for trying to make the future better there.
"I think what they've been able to do in developing the old-style chassis with the same powerplant to this new chassis with the powerplant that they're running right now, it's a lot of work and they got a lot going on. They're getting better. They're making plans to get better and stronger for next year."
The teams will test on the 2.534-mile Formula 1 circuit from 10 a.m. to noon, and then switch to the 2.621-mile MotoGP configuration from 1 to 3 p.m. ET.
Rice, Spirit of Daytona Racing Ready for Indianapolis Test
2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice will drive the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche-V8-powered Coyote in the test, which will likely utilize both road-course layouts at the track during the day.
"I'm looking forward to getting back to Indy," said Rice, who opened the 2009 season with a victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. "It's going to be awesome. It's great to be taking part in really, with the exception of the F1 cars, to be taking part in the first group to go run on the MotoGP circuit and the F1 circuit outside of Formula One or the bikes. I think it's exciting. I think it would be really cool if they ended up having a race there. Obviously Indianapolis holds a special place in my heart because of what's happened there in the past. It's extremely exciting."
The test will allow the Daytona Beach-based team to participate in the historical debut at the track, and also give the team another opportunity to generate new data about the newest specification Coyote chassis.
"I think it's gone quite well," said Rice when asked about the progress being made on the Coyote-Porsche V8 pairing. "I think (team owner) Troy (Flis) is putting together a great program. I know he's definitely working on the future and we're developing with Coyote chassis with the Porsche V8 power. It's getting better and better. I think the more testing, the more they run, the more we're all learning. I think everybody's growing together for trying to make the future better there.
"I think what they've been able to do in developing the old-style chassis with the same powerplant to this new chassis with the powerplant that they're running right now, it's a lot of work and they got a lot going on. They're getting better. They're making plans to get better and stronger for next year."
The teams will test on the 2.534-mile Formula 1 circuit from 10 a.m. to noon, and then switch to the 2.621-mile MotoGP configuration from 1 to 3 p.m. ET.
Rice, Spirit of Daytona Racing Ready for Indianapolis Test
