Mitchum Motorsports Homestead December test preview

Mitchum Motorsports to Field Two Cars at Homestead Test: Pobst, Bucknum and Buford to Join Atterbury on Track

Virginia Beach, VA (November 23, 2010) -Mitchum Motorsports heads to Homestead Miami Speedway next week for the pre-season GRAND-AM test days, bringing several new additions to the program - the newly built #86 Rolex Series Porsche 997 GT3, the reworked #6.2 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Chevrolet Camaro GS.R and a new, high profile driver line. Joey Atterbury, the team's regular driver, will be joining forces with veterans Randy Pobst, Jeff Bucknum and returning series hot shoe Jade Buford, as the team prepares for the 2011 seasons.

Team principal Chris Mitchum previously announced plans to campaign Joey Atterbury in one of the team's GS.R Camaros in the Continental Tire series for 2011, as well as the team's GT entry for the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The test days at Homestead will not only provide a good look at the improved cars but also potential drivers for the 2011 season. "We are bringing a lot of experience to these test days - Jeff, Randy and Jade have all competed in GRAND-AM for several years and experienced success. Throw Joey in the mix and we have some serious talent to work with", said Mitchum. "We are using this test as an evaluation for the 2011 season - looking at the entire program from car performance to team chemistry, driver pairings and setup preferences - it will be a busy three days at Homestead."

Atterbury, who ended the 2010 Continental Tire season with three top ten finishes in the #6.2 Camaro, recently completed his cross country move from the Seattle area to Virginia Beach to be closer to the team. "Since I moved to the east coast I get to spend so much more time with the team and see firsthand the amount time and energy they put into the car away from the track, it is very impressive", Atterbury commented. "On the GT side, we had a very successful test at VIR with the new Continental tires last month. We missed a little track time with a transmission issue but the team worked tirelessly to replace it and get us on track. We were quickly up to speed and able to learn quite a bit about the car and the new tires. I am excited to get back in the Porsche and learn even more about the GT ranks."

"The team has been hard at work getting ready for 2011 since the last race at Miller. Over the past couple of months we have been able to finish several enhancements we started during the season and have now turned our focus to real parts development, which will allow us to take full advantage of the GS rules next season. Now we get to see how well the Camaro GS.R stacks up to the other top cars and teams - the Homestead test will be a great preview of the 2011 championship", said Mitchum.

In conjunction with developing the Camaro and Porsche for the 2011 season, Mitchum Motorsports has also been fielding several Miata race cars in SCCA competition, including a MX-5 Cup car, most recently running a 13-hour endurance race at VIR. The pro car, driven by Joey Atterbury, Dion von Moltke, Jake Thompson and Ryan Ellis, earned a podium finish in the debut of the car earlier this month. "We are putting together a lineup for the season in the MX-5 Cup car, which is a perfect fit for our driver development program. The MX-5 is the ideal car to begin your racing career in, learn race craft and prepare yourself for the jump to the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge", added Mitchum.

Mitchum Motorsports plans to announce full driver lineups prior to the January test days in Daytona.

-source: mitchum motorsports