Team Sahlen hoped to make up for lost time by attending a 2^nd pre-season test at Daytona International Speedway.  The 1^st test in November was partially rained out, so the team choose to come again in December.  And thankfully the decision was the right one, as 2 days were very beneficial. 

For Team Sahlen’s #43 BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype, this test marked the opportunity to test and tune the Life Racing Paddle Shifter system utilized on the Mazda RX-8s this season.  The 1^st day of the test was spent tuning and more tuning.

Shared Will Nonnamaker – “Not much progress was made on day one.  But everyone put their heads together overnight, and on Wednesday morning, a new program was installed.  I went out and made a few short recon laps, and it ran just smoothly, like it was supposed to be. That was great, because then we could have the remainder of the day to get valuable seat time behind the wheel.”

Added Joe Sahlen “Wow, the paddle shifters were just great.  I really am starting to enjoy driving the Daytona Prototypes.  This is the 3^rd time I have been out behind the wheel of the #43.  It is starting to feel very comfortable.  I am looking forward to now coming back in January for the Roar before the 24 to be able to drive the track with some more traffic. It is all coming together after having made our announcement back in August.”

Also testing was Team Sahlen’s #42 BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype.  The focus for #42 was to continue to work on fine tuning the set up, and as well to get new team driver, Simon Pagenaud, some seat time.  The test went very well.  It would be hard to compare lap times, Daytona International Speedway changes quite dramatically based on the weather, but there was significant time found on track from the start of the test to the completion. 

Dan Cameron commented – “I am very pleased with how the test went. The weather cost is a bit of time again but we were able to work through a lot of setup changes and make a lot of progress on the handling. It was really tough on the guys to make the quick turnaround but the test was very productive for us so a Big Thank You to everyone for the long hours! I am really looking forward to three more days of testing at the Roar and making the car even better.”  

The next test for Team Sahlen will be the Roar Before the 24 to be held the 1^st part of January.  At this test, Team Sahlen will be unveiling their brand new paint scheme for 2013. 

GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is supported by:

BMW Motorsports, Design Engineering Inc, Penske Shocks, CV Products, SimXperience, Alcon, EMCO Gears, Racing Print Media, Mothers Polish, TheRaceSite.com, Western New York Flash, Classic Motorsports Magazine, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, BBS Wheels, MSI Racing Products, and Endurance Karting