Grand Am’s once-vacant GX class continues to grow.
Napleton Racing, which campaigned a pair of Porsche Caymans in Pirelli World Challenge in 2012, will be bringing a GX-spec Cayman S to the 2013 Grand Am Rolex 24 at Daytona, Jan. 26-27
“We have seen some success on track with our Caymans and the challenge of a 24-hour race is definitely intriguing,” said Ed Napleton, owner of the Ed Napleton Automotive Group and a Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship driver.
“Racing is still relatively new to me but I have heard about the unique and daunting challenge of 24-hour races from the beginning. It is going to be a fun adventure.”
Team principal Ron Barnaba, GM of Napleton Porsche of Westmont, told Grand-Am.com, “While this will be our debut, the winning experience we gained this year in World Challenge and in previous seasons in American Le Mans Series and IMSA GT3 Cup competition, will be put to good use. The Cayman S is a good fit for the new GX class and our team is up to the challenge.”
The team’s lead driver, Shane Lewis is a veteran if 15 Rolex 24s. “Daytona is very, very special to me because I have had great success there in all forms of motorsports and because I consider it one of my home tracks living in Florida,” Lewis said. “There are some very serious competitors coming to the new GX class at Daytona, both manufacturer and team efforts, but I believe the Cayman platform combined with the knowledge and passion of the Napleton organization will give us a real shot at winning.”
BGB Motorspoerts had also entered a GX Cayman, to be piloted by Ryan Eversley, Lee Davis, Eric Foss, Ron Yarab and John Tecce. Mazda is building a Mazda6 diesel for the GX class, and McMahon Raceworks has ordered a GX Lotus Evora.
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
Napleton has plenty of experience with the Cayman after a successful World Challenge campaign. (Grand-Am.com)
