ROLEX GT SERIES 2007
The first event of the Rolex Series "
Rolex 24 At Daytona" took place at the
Daytona Int'l Speedway in
Daytona Beach, Florida on January 27, 2007. There are a few teams that are currently using the rotary powered Mazda RX-8. The three (3) teams are SpeedSource Inc, Goldin Brothers Racing, and Team Spencer Motorsports. The next event is scheduled for March 1-3 at the
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Speedway located in Mexico City. This event will be covered LIVE by the Speed Channel. To see more information and schedules on the Grand-Am series please check the NYRA Forums (Click Here)
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position
|
Car Number
|
Drivers
|
Team
|
Car
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
5 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
7 |
69 |
Emil Assentato /
Nick Longhi
/ Segal |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
37 |
08 |
Goldin/ Goldin/ Finger/ Zitza |
Goldin Brothers Racing |
RX-8 |
41 |
63 |
Spencer/ Spencer/ Grupp/ |
Team Spencer Racing |
RX-8 |
The second event of the Rolex Series took place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Speedway in Mexico City, Mexico on March 3rd, 2007. Today's event was great for Mazda in general, mainly due to Nick Ham placing the No. 70 SpeedSource RX-8 into the 1st pole position the day before, and for Mazda winning 1st place in the Rolex Series. Both SpeedSources RX-8 maintaned themselves in the top 10 positions throughout the entire race. At one point I was a bit nervous, since Ham was moving back in position within the first few laps. The RX-8's did not let me down, even when the DP class car No. 99 (Gainsco) and No. 75 (Krohn Racing) were fighting it out and almost ran the Speedsources No. 69 car off the track. Nevertheless SpeedSources RX-8's finished in the top 3, with Tremblay and Ham taking the number 1 position and Assentato and Longhi taking the number 3 position. Throughout the entire event Mazda's direct competition was the No. 85 Porsche, who were clearly seen multiple times commenting on their disattisfaction with the rotary cars. So stay tuned for next event later this month, should be interesting watching Mazda and Porsche duke it out.. The next event will be on March 24th at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position
|
Car Number
|
Drivers
|
Team
|
Car
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
3 |
69 |
Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi / Segal |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
N/a |
08 |
Goldin/ Goldin/ Finger/ Zitza |
Goldin Brothers Racing |
RX-8 |
N/a |
63 |
Spencer/ Spencer/ Grupp/ |
Team Spencer Racing |
RX-8 |
The third event of the Rolex Series took place at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida on March 24th, 2007. The Speedsource team placed the No. 70 car in second place and the No. 69 car in eighth place during qualification. The Speedsources RX-8 are great precision built machines which have kept the Porsche cars off their tails. During the last few minutes of the race, tensions were running high as Slyvain Tremblay & Nick Ham's Mazda RX-8 and
RJ Valentine and Andy Lally in the No. 66 Porsche GT3 fought it out for first place. A few minutes before Mr. Tremblay took the first place win, the Porsche passed the No. 70th car. My heart began to pound uncontrollable thinking about how close this race truly was. The Speedsource RX-8 passed the porsche while regaining his number 1 position to finish the race with two consecutive wins in the Grand-Am series. As they interviewed both Mr. Tremblay and Ham, they were very ecstatic and proud of their achievement, just as all of us in the rotary community are of them. Congrats on another successful win, lets hope for a third podium finish. Too see the video of the RX-8 beating the Porsche, Click here.
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position
|
Car Number
|
Drivers
|
Team
|
Car
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
16 |
69 |
Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi / Segal |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
N/a |
08 |
Goldin/ Goldin/ Finger/ Zitza |
Goldin Brothers Racing |
RX-8 |
N/a |
63 |
Spencer/ Spencer/ Grupp/ |
Team Spencer Racing |
RX-8 |
The fourth event of the Rolex Series took place at the Virginia International Raceway on April 28th, 2007. The race was very close between Porsche (# 87) and the # 70 Speedsource RX-8. The RX-8's came in 2nd and 11th place. Mazda/Speedsource RX-8's are still the points leader in the Grand Am GT Class. The next event will be held at Lime Rock on May 28th. For more information about this race.(Click Here)
Position
|
Car Number
|
Drivers
|
Team
|
Car
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
2 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
11 |
69 |
Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi / Segal |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
The fifth event of the Rolex Series took place at the Mazda's Home track Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on May 19th, 2007. The Speedsource RX-8's finished in seventh and ninth poisition for the # 70, and # 69 car resepectively.
Position
|
Car Number
|
Drivers
|
Team
|
Car
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
7 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
9 |
69 |
Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
The sixth event of the Rolex Series took place at Lime Rock Park in Litchfield Connecticut on May 28th, 2007. I was fortunate enough to attend this event with the Mazdaspeed Corral which was set up by Marlon Sumllin of the Cleaveland 6 Club, and Ray Gonzalvo from Mazda6club and the New York Rotary Association. The Mazdaspeed Corral met with Slyvain Tremblay, Nick Ham, David Haskell, Wendy Haskell, Sande Collins, Matt Martin, Marty Kintzi, Zach Parrish, and the rest of the Speedsource/Mazdaspeed team; they are truly a great group of people. The Corral provided us with MazdaSpeed T-Shirts and Hats, helping us show our support for all the Mazda teams. We stood collective around the first "S" curve to show our support for the Speedsource Team, they also returned that jester multiple times during the event by flashing their headlights at us. Felt good knowing that we were supporting one another.
The race on the other hand didn't go as planned. The number # 69 RX-8 was damaged in a collision with a Mustang, and was out of the race just after lap 42. The # 70 RX-8 started in second place on the grid and moved into first place after an accident took out the first two lead cars. Sad to say that they couldn't hold first place after their first pitstop which set them back a lap causing the worst finish this year for the # 70 car. The combined result of todays race with the previous 5 events places the Speedsources # 70 RX-8 and the # 87 Porsche GT3 at a tie with a total of 172 points. There are still seven more races to go and I'm sure Speedsource will quickly regain their 1st place position. From myself and the Tri-State Rotary Association we wish Speedsource/MazdaSpeed and theirs cars the best at the next event.Good lucks guys!
Videos and Pictures of this weeks event can be found in the Multimedia Section. (Click Here)
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:Position
|
Car Number
|
Drivers
|
Team
|
Car
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
11 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
19 |
69 |
Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
>>>>>>
The seventh event of the Rolex Series took place at Watkin Glens located in upstate New York on June 9th, 2007. Sylvain Tremblay's # 70 RX-8 had broken a portion of his suspension in the 45th lap which took the car out for the entire race, placing him in the 22nd position. Sad as this was the # 69 RX-8 had a better race, finishing in 8th place. Currently the point standings of this race places the Speedsource team in third place with 181 points. The two leading teams have 199, and 193 points, respectively. There is still a fighting chance speedsource can regain the lead in the remaining 6 races. Hope all is well with Mr. Tremblay and the entire Speedsource team, GOOD LUCK!!
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position |
Car Number |
Drivers |
Team |
Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
8 |
69 |
Assentato / Segal / Snyder |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
22 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
The eighth event of the Rolex Series took place at Mid-Ohio located in Ohio on June 24th, 2007. Sylvain Tremblay's # 70 RX-8 is back in business. After that nasty crash in Watkin Glens in NY, the RX-8 is back and better than ever finishing the race in 2nd place! Nick Ham and Tremblay did an excellent job getting Speedsource back up in the top poll positions. This has helped the Speedsource team in the total point's standings of the Rolex GT series. Speedsource is currently has 213 points placing them in fourth place right behind the top three cars which have 223, 218, and 216 respectively. Im sure Speedsource can claim any one of those positions in the remaining seven races. The # 69 Mazda RX-8 had a good start in the event working their way up to fourth place at one point. During the driver change in lap 54, Nick Longhi had some issues with the car and overheated, putting the # 69 car out of comission. The FXDD RX-8 finished the race in 19th place.
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position |
Car Number |
Drivers |
Team |
Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
19 |
69 |
Assentato / Segal / Snyder |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
The ninth event of the Rolex Series took place at Daytona International Speedway located in Florida on July 5th, 2007. Placing first in qualifying helped give Speedsource the boost they needed in their hometown of Florida. With this first place win, Slyvain Tremblay and the # 70 Speedsource RX-8 are currently in 2nd place in the Rolex GT Series. The FXDD # 69 car also finished in the top 10 placing themselves in the 8th position placing them in 9th place overall in the GT Series. To read more about Speedsources win at Daytona follow this link to Rotary News.com (Click Here)
To see a PDF of the point standings of Speedsource in the Rolex Series (Click Here)
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position |
Car Number |
Drivers |
Team |
Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
8 |
69 |
Assentato / Segal / Snyder |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
The tenth event of the Rolex Series took place at Iowa Speedway located on July 14th, 2007.
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position |
Car Number |
Drivers |
Team |
Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5 |
69 |
Assentato / Segal / Snyder |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
13 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
The eleventh event of the Rolex Series took place at Barber Motorsport Park on July 21st, , 2007.
The race results are as follows for the Grand Touring (GT) class:
Position |
Car Number |
Drivers |
Team |
Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5 |
70 |
Sylvain Tremblay / Dave Haskell / Nick Ham |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
10 |
69 |
Assentato / Segal / Snyder |
SpeedSource |
RX-8 |
For more information about the Speedsource Team and the Mazda RX-8 program, please check out the Speedsource website at the following link. Speedsource Website
For more information about the Grand-Am series please click the following link. Grand-Am Website
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