Brian Frisselle Daytona 24H qualifying report

Frisselle Racing Takes Tenth on Rolex 24 Grid

#77 Doran Racing Ford Dallara: Brian Frisselle, Burt Frisselle, Jim Lowe

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

Daytona Beach, FL (26 January 2012) - Brian Frisselle placed the No. 77 Combos/Circle K Ford-Dallara on the fifth row of the grid for the 50th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona with a time of 1:42.773 seconds around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn speedway road course.

Brian, along with co-drivers Burt Frisselle, Jim Lowe, and Paul Tracy, hopes to move forward from 10th position as the squad sets their sights on a clean and consistent race throughout the grueling 24-hour event. The Frisselle brothers certainly know their way around the famous Daytona International Speedway - each with seven Rolex 24 starts to their credit - and will look to use that to their advantage in the highly anticipated 50th anniversary of the event.

With 14 Daytona Prototypes and 46 GT entries expected, the brothers are sure to remain busy behind the wheel of their No. 77 Ford, and know that patience and clean laps will be key in surviving the rigorous race.

“We knew we weren’t going to be challenging for the pole, but now we just have to focus on the race and try to get the most consistent car we can get,” said Brian of the qualifying run. “The car is still not giving the grip we want, but we’ll try to get that fixed before the race. We just need to be smart and consistent out there and drive a clean race because that’s the way we have to try to win this thing. The race is not going to be won on speed. So that’s what we have to do. The Doran Racing guys did a great job of getting the car ready - we’ve been going through a lot of changes so hats off to the team and we’ll try to get it better for the race.”

“We’re just working really hard to find some extra speed and I think since we don’t really have the speed that we hoped for, we just have to play this very smart,” echoed Burt. “Brian did a great job qualifying the car and now we just have to look for consistency and balance to make it easy to drive so we can attack this race as an endurance event and not necessarily as a sprint race.

The Frisselles spent Thursday morning preparing the car throughout two practice sessions and Burt put in some additional laps around the circuit as he took members of the media including SPEED’s Bob Varsha and Jamie Howe, as well as a host of Continental Tire VIPs for a thrilling ride around the high-banks of Daytona in the Continental Tire 2-seater Daytona Prototype on Wednesday and Thursday.

“The Continental Tire two-seater car is just a blast to drive because of the riders’ experiences,” said Burt. “It’s so fun for them and every time you come to a stop, all you hear is ‘that was amazing!’ It’s just awesome to be able to give people who have never been in a racecar, the perspective of what it’s like for us. Even though we’re missing the 44 GT cars that really makes this event nuts, they get a thrill that you can’t even get at Disneyland.”

Each Frisselle has a pair of top-five finishes in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, but both still have yet to capture the Rolex 24 crown and it would be all the more special for the brothers to win the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 together.