Lally with Old friends and a Mazda this weekend!
June 16, 2010 · 1 Comment
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Andy Lally will be joining Team Sahlen at this weekend’s EMCO
Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports
Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.
This will be Andy’s first
opportunity to drive the Mazda RX-8 developed by SpeedSource
Engineering. To date, the Mazda RX-8 has won 4 of the events so far and
leads the GT Manufacturer Championship.
"I’ve been friends with Will
and Wayne for many years and have had a lot of great races against them.
It will be fun to actually race as teammates with them. There are a lot
of great things coming together this weekend that I am very thankful
for and right at the top of the list is the opportunity that Joe Sahlen
and the team have given me to continue to race in the ROLEX Sports Car
Series. I love Mid Ohio and it is a great fit that it is the team's
home track. It will also be fun to try the Mazda for the first time. I
know that Sylvain and the SpeedSource gang have put a lot of development
and time into helping all of the Mazda teams accomplish their goals and
it will be nice to see how all the teams work together this weekend." –
states Andy Lally
Andy is no
stranger to driving Mazda race cars, having driving the Dyson Mazda LMP
at the 2009 Sebring 12 Hours. In that event, Andy assisted Mazda in
securing a fine 3rd place finish in the P2 category.
“We are very excited to have
Andy as a part of Team Sahlen and MAZDASPEED at this weekend’s EMCO
Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He has proven that he is
one of the top drivers in the GT class, having won the Driver’s
Championship in the past, and having won 2 events this year already.
Since the start of the season, Team Sahlen’s goal has been to assist
Mazda in winning the GT Class Manufacturer’s Championship. With Andy
added to our Driver Line Up for the weekend, we feel that we will take
one step closer to achieving this goal.” – states Joe Sahlen
Andy will find himself in
familiar surroundings at Team Sahlen. As far back as 1999, Andy
co-drove in the ST class of what is now the GRAND-AM Continental Tire
Sports Car Challenge with Joe Nonnamaker. In addition Andy’s Driver Web
Site was originally created by the Nonnamaker family’s Phoenix
Promotions Web Site company.
Team Sahlen will
be entering the #42 & #43 Mazda RX-8s for the event at Mid-Ohio.
Driving alongside Andy in the event will be Joe, Wayne & Will
Nonnamaker. The Mid-Ohio event is the “hometown race” for the
Nonnamaker family. The Nonnamakers have made Ohio their home all their
lives and currently reside in Canton, Ohio.
“Having Andy on board with us
is very exciting. Andy is a great fit with our team. Andy is a tough,
but fair competitor. The two of us raced a very close race against
each other in 2004 at Mid-Ohio in the GT class where we finished 1-2 in
the race. We know he is fully capable of delivering the results for
Mazda this weekend.” – states Wayne Nonnamaker
Since a practice wreck at
Watkins Glen, the crew has been working every day to try to put back
together the damage on the #43 machine. The car first went to Riley and
Scott to have pieces fabricated. From there the car spent three days in
the SpeedSource shop getting put back together before coming home to
have final install work done.
“I really want
to thank the team at Riley and Scott and SpeedSource. The team at
SpeedSource did a fantastic job putting together a lot of pieces and
parts in a very short time. Without their help this car wouldn’t be
ready to go at Mid Ohio. Our crew has had a lot of long days and
hopefully this weekend will be a great payback to their efforts,” added
Will Nonnamaker.
The EMCO Gears
Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be televised live at 5 pm
on June 19th on SPEED TV.
The 2010 Team
Sahlen GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask
No. 16 & GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Campaigns
will be supported by Mazda, Mazdaspeed, HRPWorld.com, HAWK Performance,
Cool Shirt, Racetech Seats, BBS, Racing Print Media, Alcon, Mothers
Polish, EMCO, TheRaceSite.com, Grassroots Motorsports, Holliday
Canopies, Alcon, CM Racing, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting,
Bell Helmets, Castrol, Ianetti Design, and SpeedSource Engineering
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1 Cory, Zak & Jake // Jun 16, 2010 at 5:46 PM
Good luck we are sure you will lap the GT field in the Mazda!
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