After a 9 week layoff since the ROLEX 24 Hours at Daytona, it is time for the 2012 season to start up again for Team Sahlen.  The 2^nd event of the season will be at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park just outside Birmingham, Alabama.

The down time was welcomed by all members of the Team Sahlen crew.  Despite the #42 Mazda finishing the 24 hours without a scratch, there was still plenty of work to do by the crew to rebuild the RX-8 after such a gruelling twice around the clock event.  Essentially the SpeedSource built racer had to be completely disassembled down to “bare bones”, cleaned, parts replaced, then put back together again.

“The crew has been very busy since the last event.  Although to the average race fan, 9 weeks seems like a long time,,,the race crew though has been busy since the day we got home until the day we loaded for Barber.  Not only did we have to reprep the #42, but we will be racing both the #43 and #49 at this event.  Thus those two Mazdas needed to be prepared.  As well, we maintain the company’s 30+ fleet of street vehicles, and they needed to be focused upon in this period of time.  We are all excited though to get back at it and get to the races again.  It should be fun to be on track again.” – shared Jay Chapman, Team Manager

One ½ of the “Wayne & Dane Show”, Dane Cameron has been busy during this period as well.  Beyond his trip to the Team Sahlen race shop for a seat fitting, Dane also took part in the recent Sebring 12 hours where he set fastest race lap in the Prototype Challenge Class. - “I am really looking forward to getting to Barber for Round 2 of the Rolex Season. It has become a bit of a special place for me as I scored my first Rolex Pole there last season. It is also the first time Wayne and I co-drove in 2009 so it will be cool to start off our first regular season there. Also now that I live in Atlanta it has become a bit of a home race for me so it will be nice to have some friends and family out. I think we will be in for a challenging weekend as the weather could really be anything this time of year and Barber is such a tough track to get the car balanced and is very very tough on tires. That being said I am still quite confident that our #42 will be very competitive based on the performance Team Sahlen put forth at the Rolex 24. The break since Daytona seems like forever so I am ready to get to work and get a win and show that we will be a threat all season long.”

Even Engineer Catherine Crawford Wallace is anticipating the event ahead - “After this long break from Daytona to now we are looking to pick up momentum for the season and Barber Park is not a power circuit as Daytona so hopefully it will work in favour of the lighter Mazda chassis.”

Wayne Nonnamaker enters the 2^nd event of the year in the lead of the Bob Akin Sportsman Award.  The recipient of the 2011 GT Class award, Wayne is hoping to continue his good form and stay atop the standings – “I am looking forward to this weekend.  I have been driving a lot of laps on the race simulator at home to be prepared.  Hopefully it pays off with a solid run this weekend.”

Beyond co-driving with Dane Cameron in the #42 Mazda, Wayne Nonnamaker will be joining his Dad Joe in the #43 Mazda.  In Team Sahlen’s 3^rd entry, Joe Sahlen & Will Nonnamaker will be paired together in the #49 RX-8.

Joe Sahlen, the 2011 Recipient  of Bob Sonodgrass Award of Excellence, had this to share – “I am looking forward to Barber.  Due to business obligations, I was forced to miss last year’s event here.  This is a real challenging track that I look forward to driving every year.  It should be a lot of fun.”

The Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park will start at 12:15 on Saturday, March 31^st.  The race will be televised same day tape delayed at 4 pm on SPEEDTV.

The 2012 Team Sahlen campaign in the

 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is supported by:

 Mazda, Mazdaspeed, SimXperience, Alcon, Racetech, NGK, Cool Shirt, Racing Print Media, Mothers Polish, TheRaceSite.com, Western New York Flash, Grassroots Motorsports, ASC Industries, Iannetti Design Ideas, CM Racing, Quarter Master, BBS Wheels, MSI Racing Products and Endurance Karting