Just six days after a heavy crash in Mexico City, the SunTrust Racing team has won the battle to be on the grid for the latest round of the Grand Am Rolex Series at Virginia International Raceway.
The #10 Pontiac Dallara was involved in a hefty shunt for the second successive race in the Mexico City 250 after contact from the #7 Sigalsport
BMW sent driver Max Angelelli spinning off into the concrete barrier – inflicting considerable damage to the right hand side of the car.
That came after the team had battled to rebuild the car following an accident for Angelelli's team-mate Michael Valiante at Homestead Miami Speedway in the previous event.
The team transporter, with the #10 racing machine on board, didn't arrive back at the race shop until late Tuesday afternoon from Mexico, and it had to depart Thursday evening in order to unload and adequately prepare for Saturday morning's opening practice at VIR.
Despite the short turnaround, which forced the team to cram a week's worth of work into two days, the car was declared ready to race in the fourth round of the year as the team seeks to try and reduce the 46 point gap to the points leaders.
"We literally had to replace every panel on the car," SunTrust Racing car owner Wayne Taylor said. "Everything but the left-hand sidepod and the cockpit were damaged.
"We just need a break. We've got a big shortfall in the points. We've been developing the Dallara and making it the best car in Grand-Am. So far, it seems pretty fast."
