Chevrolet
Corvette Daytona Racecar
Chevrolet has been unveiled the 2012 Chevy Corvette Daytona Prototype at Daytona International
Speedway. The Corvette Daytona Prototype made its competitive debut
in the 50th anniversary of the GRAND-AM Road Racing Series Rolex 24 at Daytona
from January 26-29, 2012.
The
anticipation of seeing this new Daytona Prototype compete is building each and
every day. This announcement has immediate and far-reaching implications with
the potential to change the face of sports car racing.
Four
teams will campaign the Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype in 2012: No. 90
Spirit of Daytona Racing; No. 10 SunTrust Racing; No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings
Racing, and the Nos. 5 and 9 Action Express Racing teams.
The
2012 Corvette Daytona Prototype was developed by a multi-faceted effort
involving Chevrolet, Corvette Designers, Pratt & Miller and GRAND-AM. "Chevrolet also worked closely with chassis builders Riley, Coyote and
Dallara," said Mark Kent, GM Racing director. The IMSA GTP Corvette
Prototype campaigned by Hendrick Motorsports in the '80s was the inspiration
for this new Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype. And, like the GTP Corvettes,
the new Corvette Daytona Prototype contains numerous styling cues from the
street version of the Chevrolet Corvette.
Corvette
has a storied history of racing-related feats in Daytona. Zora Arkus-Duntov -
the father of the Corvette and chief engineer working on the Corvette in the
'50s and '60s - set a flying-mile speed record of more than 150 miles per hour
in a Corvette on Daytona Beach, one of a number of record runs on the beach for
him. When Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, Arkus-Duntov turned
the fastest laps - 155 miles per hour - in a Corvette SS.
More
recently, in 2001, a Corvette driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Chris
Kneifel and Franck Freon was the overall winner in the Daytona 24-hour. Another
Corvette finished fourth that year, with Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Earnhardt
Jr., Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins.
