Pirelli Tire and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 will bring their record-setting 2009 season to a close this weekend with a full schedule of on-track competition and off-track celebration in the greater Miami area. Race action begins Saturday October 10th at The Grand Prix of Miami - the 12th and final Grand-Am Rolex Series race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The year-end Rolex Awards Banquet will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., on Monday, Oct. 12.
The Grand Prix of Miami is a 2.5-hour sprint on the 2.3-mile, 11-turn Homestead-Miami Speedway road course. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 1:08 p.m. ET on Saturday, and live coverage can be seen on SPEED beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
In addition to the driver and team championships for both the Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype and Acxiom GT divisions being decided in Saturday’s race, the respective class winners in the new Pirelli P Zero Club program will also be announced. The P Zero Club is a season-long competition that allows teams to earn points for on-track performance as well as promotional and publicity activity. Like the overall Rolex Series title battles, the P Zero Club points race will also go down to the wire at Homestead with four teams in each class still firmly in the hunt heading into the finale. The winning P Zero Club Daytona Prototype team will be awarded $50,000 at Monday’s banquet at the Hard Rock while the top GT team will receive a $25,000 bonus.
“We are proud of all of the teams and drivers this year. Pirelli P Zeros have proven to play an important role Grand-Am Rolex Series competition. Our involvement in the Pirelli P Zero Club reinforces our focus on excellence,” said Rafael Navarro III, Pirelli Tire North America’s Director of Motorsports and Media Relations. “Pirelli embraces its rich racing heritage as well as our recognized position as a promotional leader in the motorsports industry and beyond. The great competitors in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series have allowed us to achieve a great deal of success this year in both areas.”