Grand-Am

Mid-Ohio: Doran Racing preview

Crown Royal Special Reserve Drivers Bobbi and Gollin Hope for Another Pole And Great Results at Mid-Ohio Aug. 26-27 LEBANON, Ohio, Aug. 20 - Energized by winning the pole position, setting a new track record and leading the most laps of the last ...

Published: Aug 23, 2005, 11:17 AM

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Crown Royal Special Reserve Drivers Bobbi and Gollin Hope for Another Pole And Great Results at Mid-Ohio Aug. 26-27

LEBANON, Ohio, Aug. 20 - Energized by winning the pole position, setting a new track record and leading the most laps of the last event, the Doran Racing team and drivers Fabrizio Gollin and Matteo Bobbi are looking forward to the next race. It's coming right up and it'll be run on the track closest to the team's headquarters in Lebanon, Ohio, as the Emco Gears Classic Rolex series race is set for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio Aug. 26-27.

Although Mid-Ohio is close to home, team owner Kevin Doran doesn't think there will be much if any of a "home court" advantage for the Crown Royal Special Reserve DORAN JE4 Ford No. 77. Most of the teams and drivers know the world-class facility quite well, and the competition is so stiff that just milliseconds separate the top cars' lap times.

And, as has been the case at almost all of the races this year, Gollin and Bobbi will have an additional challenge, as they've never even seen the 2.258-mile road course before, let alone driven on it.

But they'll be giving it their best shot when they take to the track for the first time at a track test day on Thursday, Aug. 25. The Daytona Prototypes' first official practice session is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 26. More practice is slated for 2:10 p.m. that day followed by qualifying at 4:55 p.m.

Race day for the Rolex series is on Saturday, not Sunday this time. (The Grand-Am Cup series headlines Sunday's activities.)

There is a warm-up session for the Rolex series on Saturday morning at 10:25 a.m., an autograph session at noon and then the 250-mile/111-lap/two-hour-and-45-minute race is slated to get the green flag at 5:30 p.m.

The Rolex race will be televised on a tape-delayed basis at 12 p.m. ET the following day, Sunday, Aug. 28, on SPEED.

For more information, please see doranracing.com and crownroyal.com. Matteobobbi.com has information on that driver, while Gollin's Web site is at fabriziogollin.com.

Other interesting information can be found at grandamerican.com, midohio.com, speedtv.com and restartcommunications.com.

Quotes follow:

Fabrizo Gollin: "Racing at Mid-Ohio will be all new for both Matteo and I. We've never seen it before, although I've seen what it looks like on the Internet.

"We were very happy to win the pole at the last race, which was at Watkins Glen. We led the most laps of the race too, but we didn't finish as high as we wanted. We really want to win at Mid-Ohio. First we want to finish, then we want to get on the podium, then we want to win.

"Matteo will qualify the car at Mid-Ohio. We take turns on who qualifies.

"I don't know anything about the Mid-Ohio track, but I know a little about Ohio. I really want to see the Amish people. I've heard of them, and I'd like to see them.

"I'm sorry my English isn't very good.  I think in Italian and then I
translate into English.  Sometimes when I'm driving I yell at the slower GT cars to
move over in Italian.  If I think it in English, I go 1 second slower!"

Matteo Bobbi: "I've never seen Mid-Ohio. I visited the track's Web site, but that's it.

"I heard it has elevation changes, and it's really nice and fast, but other than that I have no more information.

"We're taking it one race at a time."

-dr-

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