DORAN RACING HEADS BACK TO THE BANKING WITH MOMENTUMAND 2008 BODYWORK FOR THURSDAY’S BRUMOS PORSCHE 250

Lebanon, OH (July 1, 2008) – With 2008 bodywork and the momentum of five top-10 finishes so far this season, Doran Racing’s 2-car team heads for Thursday’s Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona with high expectations. 

Doran Racing began the season with a single car, the #77 Doran Racing/Kodak Ford and was among the fastest cars on the track in practice sessions leading up to the Rolex 24.  In Round Two at Homestead, the team debuted new, aerodynamically-optimized Dallara bodywork and again ran toward the front of the field.  In Round Three at Mexico City, the team’s second car, the #47 Doran Racing/CDOC Dallara Ford, made its debut with a top-10 finish. 

The team has continued to build momentum as drivers, engineers and crew gain experience with the cars; in the lead-up to the Rolex Series’ second appearance at Daytona, a rain-soaked all-skate at Mid-Ohio, the first-time pairing of Burt Frisselle and Ricky Taylor came home in 7th in the #47 Doran Racing/CDOC/BSI Dallara Ford.  And previkous to that, at the 6-hour event at Watkins Glen, Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger scored a 5th-place finish in the #77 Doran Racing/Kodak Doran/Dallara Ford.

“My biggest heartbreak in racing came at Daytona earlier this year,” says Frisselle, who has been racing Daytona Prototypes in the Grand-Am Rolex series since 2004.  “I was leading the Rolex 24 with three hours to go and the car I was driving – for a different team -- broke while I was at the wheel.  Juan Pablo Montoya in the Ganassi car and I were the only two cars on the lead lap and it was awesome to be battling with him, but a bittersweet outcome.  This time around at Daytona I have a new co-driver that I work with very well, Ricky Taylor, and a new sponsor, Miracle Sealants, whom we’re very happy to have on board.  Ricky and I scored a top-7 finish in our first outing together at Mid-Ohio and are looking for a top-5, at least, at Daytona.  The Doran Racing team is on a hot streak heading into the second half of the season and I’m looking forward to lots of competitive racing.”

Frisselle’s co-driver is Ricky Taylor, the 19 year-old son of Rolex Series champion Wayne Taylor.  He made his Daytona Prototype debut at the Rolex 24 driving for his father’s SunTrust team.  In 2007, Taylor finished second in Skip Barber National Championship with two wins, five poles and five podiums.  He won the Skip Barber Southern Series in 2006 with six wins, three poles and 12 podiums.  He has also raced in the Stars of Karting series and, when not in a race car, attends Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida, where he plays on the varsity soccer team. 

“I got to run at Daytona in the 24-hour with my dad’s team, so I know my way around the track, and our 7th-place finish at Mid-Ohio in our first race together proved that Burt and I are a good combination,” says Taylor.  “Doran Racing is a really professional team, the car is really fast and with even more experience, I expect our results will only get better.”

Co-driving the team’s #77 Doran Racing/Kodak Doran/Dallara Ford are Memo Gidley and Brad jaeger.  Gidley, the very talented and widely respected American driver who was born in La Paz, Mexico and now makes his home in Novato, California, has made a name for himself as one of the most committed drivers in the paddock, driving and winning in everything from karts to Indy Cars and stock cars to prototypes. 

 “I’m looking forward to Daytona because it’s a super high-speed track, which I really like,” says Gidley.  “And aerodynamics plays a huge role there, which is one of the strengths of the Doran/Dallara.  We raced at Daytona earlier this year with basically the same aero package that we used in the 2007 season-ending race at Miller Motorsports Park, which is not an aero track, and we were still fast.  The new Doran/Dallara bodywork will make a huge difference at Daytona and this is the race where we will have a great shot to break through to a podium finish.”

Gidley’s co-driver in the #77 Kodak Ford Doran/Dallara is Brad Jaeger, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and recent graduate of Vanderbilt University where he was a member of their Formula SAE team.  His racing resume includes karting, Sports 2000, Skip Barber, F2000, Star Mazda and the Indy Pro Series.  He co-drove his first prototype race for the Doran team in the 2007 season finale at Miller Motorsport Park.

“This will be my first time doing it all in a single day, practice, qualifying and the race,” says Jaeger.  “It will come down to your base setup, how the car was when it rolled off the trailer.  We had a good setup for the 24 Hours to serve as a baseline and with the 2008 bodywork and data from the last couple of races, we should be able to get up to speed quickly.  We had the same car and chassis at the 24 Hours, but different bodywork, so this will give us a useful back-to-back comparison.  You get a lot of track time at the 24 Hours so I know the track very well, but this will be my first all-DP race so there won’t be any shower traffic to pass and it should be an all-out sprint race.”

The two cars the Doran Racing team will field at Daytona and throughout the 2008 Rolex Series season look the same, but are different underneath.  The #47 car is all-Dallara, while the #77 car is a Doran chassis fitted with Dallara bodywork featuring enhanced aerodynamics and increased downforce.  Both cars are powered by 500 horsepower Roush-Yates Ford V-8 engines.

Doran Enterprises is Dallara's official spare parts distributor and approved repair center for that series. In addition, Doran Designs will fabricate certain special parts for the marque.  Doran Racing has a successful history of working with Dallara and won the Daytona 24 Hours in 2002 with a Dallara Sportscar LMP1.  While Doran Racing has prepared and fielded race cars in a wide variety of series for many years, from Indy cars to NASCAR trucks, the Lebanon, Ohio-based team is particularly noted for its successes in sports car endurance racing, including being the first and only team in U.S. history to win the 24 Hours at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Watkins Glen Six-Hour race in the same year (1998).

The Brumos Porsche 250 is a unique event even in the unique format of the Rolex Series.  Practice, qualifying and the 250-mile/2-hr. 45-min. race all take place on the same day, Thursday, July 3.  Qualifying takes place from 1:45 pm to 2:00 pm, and the race is scheduled to take the green flag under the lights at 8:00 pm Thursday evening.  The race will air live on SPEED TV. 

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For further information, visit www.doranracing.com or www.grand-am.com. 

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