8Star Motorsports will be looking to turn their fortunes around as the Rolex Grand-Am Series makes its debut at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
The Floridian team, in their debut Grand-Am year, the #3 Corvette Daytona Prototype threw away any chance of a podium finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with gearbox issues. Since then, the squad have spent the last four weeks undergoing a complete rebuild of the car in an effort to bounce back even stronger than before.
Prototype veteran Stephane Sarrazin, who will make his first appearance in a regular length Grand-Am race at COTA, will team up with Enzo Potolicchio, an addition which brings a wealth of optimism to the team.
Sarrazin, however, will go into the weekend learning from Potolicchio, as the Toyota World Endurance Championship driver has never driven the COTA track, whereas team-mate and team owner Potolicchio has, competing in the Ferrari Challenge event at the inaugural Formula 1 US Grand Prix at the circuit.
“I’m really looking forward to getting on track,” said Potolicchio “My experience from November will obviously help, but it was a real complicated weekend as the track itself had no grip and we didn’t have that much track time. More rubber has been laid down since then, but I think it will still be a rather slippery surface. We’ll see when we go out tomorrow for the first time.”
“We’re certainly going to benefit from the downforce and aerodynamics of the Corvette DP. I think all of the Corvettes should be strong here. But our expectations have to remain realistic. If we can finish in the top-5 and walk out of here with more points, that will certainly be the goal.”
