Ruby Tuesday is aiming to defend its Grand Prix of Miami crown from a year ago – and in so doing break its 2007 duck – when it takes to the track on Saturday for round three of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
The Alex Job Racing-prepared, Porsche-powered Crawford
Daytona Prototype was on pole position in 2006 and led 64 of the 107 laps to capture its first win of the campaign. This year, drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long will be looking to reproduce that form.
“We are going into Homestead with a lot of motivation, as we won our first race there last year,” commented Long. “It helps with our confidence, but the car this year is very different from the one last year. This year's car has added weight. We will have to focus on tyre management and car set-up to be a repeat winner.”
In an effort to put the car at the front of the grid on the 2.3-mile, 11-turn speedway road course, the team will need a near perfect set-up, with the 20-degree high-bank turns and tightly-positioned infield posing quite a challenge for drivers and crew alike.
“Homestead is a real compact circuit,” Bergmeister added. “You have to have a set-up on the car that can get you through NASCAR turns three and four pretty much flat to be able to run a top time. The infield is pretty tight, so hopefully getting around the banking fast will put you in a position to pass in the infield. AJR won the race last year, so I think we will be really good.”
Through the opening two rounds of the Grand-Am campaign, Ruby Tuesday has experienced its fair share of dramas, as a result of which it is currently lying fifth in the teams' points standings. Likewise, Bergmeister and Long are tied for fifth in the drivers' title chase.
