Orlando, Florida � California�s Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca hasn�t always been the happiest of hunting grounds for Scotland�s Ryan Dalziel but the 26-year-old aims to rectify that this weekend as he again partners with Orlando�s Henri Zogaib in the #2 SAMAX Motorsport BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype for Round 5 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16, Friday 16th � Saturday 17th May.
Dalziel heads into Saturday�s �Rum Bum.com 250� at the 2.238-mile road course eager to maintain the momentum built up from his first podium of the season last time out at Virginia International Raceway. Denied his maiden Grand-Am victory by a mere half a second, Ryan�s form looked ominous as he hounded former champion and series veteran Scott Pruett in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus-Riley through to the checkered flag last month, team-mate Zogaib then accompanying Dalziel onto the second step of the podium for the traditional champagne shower.
Buoyed by his performance at the previous round, Ryan knows that speed won�t be the issue at Laguna Seca but catching a break just might be! In his Daytona Prototype rookie season in 2006, Dalziel powered his way onto the second row of the grid with a third place qualifying effort only to see a starter failure on his final pit stop drop him a lap down on the leaders while on-course for a top-six finish.
Last season�s trip to Laguna, with SAMAX Motorsport, was again a tale of what might have been as Ryan, teamed on this occasion with Canada�s Patrick Carpentier, saw his eighth place qualifying slot disqualified due to an alleged ride-height infringement. Staring 19th and last in the highly competitive Daytona Prototype class, Dalziel and Carpentier battled valiantly to a fifth place finish at the end of the 250-mile endurance sprint.
This weekend�s race again sees a stellar grid with 19 Daytona Prototype�s and 23 GT entries lining up for what will undoubtedly be another action packed 2-hour 45-minute charge.
�I�m expecting good things from this weekend,� Dalziel declared before heading to California. �Our podium in Virginia means we�ve got some momentum on our side and we�ll be looking to keep that going. The car�s fast and I�d expect it to suit Laguna Seca just as well. Henri hasn�t raced there before so it�s important that he gets some mileage under his belt on Friday. We�ve also got David Empringham coming to help us out this weekend so I�m sure he�ll get us both up to speed quickly.
�SAMAX cars are always capable of podiums so it was great to get our first one of the season last month. The team�s undergone quite a bit of restructuring so I�d say Virginia was really only the second race of having a solid crew all working together and the result speaks for itself. We needed that result for our confidence; we know we can get the job done so now we have to build some consistency!�
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