GRAND-AM Road Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 30, 2009) - A plethora of new cars competing during the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge are entered the January Test Days, which heightens an already action-packed and strong field of cars that carried over from the 2009 campaign.

The additions of Chevrolet Camaro - which actually returned to the series following a five-year hiatus in the 2009 season finale at Virginia International Raceway - in the Grand Sport (GS) class, and the Kia Forte Koup and MAZDASPEED3 in Street Tuner (ST), make up only a fraction of the new cars and teams set to see track time during the three-day test, held Jan. 8-10 at Daytona International Speedway.

While Stevenson Motorsports pulled out the first Camaro at VIR, other teams have added two-car stables with new faces behind the wheel. TC Motorsports, a Ford Racing Mustang Challenge team, will field a pair of Camaros, as will Momentum Racing Group, which has tested and worked on preparing the cars since October. Though not expected to contest Daytona, Georgian Bay Motorsports will add a pair of Camaros sometime during the season.

Several GS teams are switching to different models of their current manufacturer, while other teams moving up have completely different cars. BGB Motorsports will be back in 2010, albeit with Porsche Caymans, which replaces the team's long-used Porsche 997s. Two cars are registered for Daytona and are expected to compete fulltime.

Subaru Road Racing Team, which finished second in the 2009 ST points standings, moves up to GS as well, with a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. APR Motorsport, which finished one spot behind SRRT last season in ST, also will campaign at least one Audi S4, a car which has won races in Continental Tire Challenge competition previously. On the ST front, APR will continue to field a pair of Volkswagen GTIs, but the 2010 model will be an MK6.

BMW will be well represented this season as well. After falling one point short of Ford in the 2009 manufacturer standings, BMW will try and earn another championship with cars from Rum Bum Racing and Fall-Line Motorsports. Fall-Line, a staple on the circuit since 2007, will have three BMW M3 E92s to start 2010, and a power-packed driver lineup that includes former Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype champion Terry Borcheller.

Fall-Line also produced the BMW M3 E92 for Rum Bum Racing, which will see former ST class driving runner-up Matt Plumb team with rookie Gianluis Bacardi for the entire season. While not new, Turner Motorsport shows its dedication to the series by moving to a pair of BMW M3 E92s after find success with its BMW M3 E46s.

But the Ford Mustang GTs, which have won the last two GS manufacturer titles, shouldn't be overlooked. Multimatic Motorsports, which won the 2002 and 2005 team championships, returns to the series with two cars - one entered with two-time GS driving champion Scott Maxwell, and another for Gunnar Jeannette. Both drivers have won multiple races for Multimatic in past seasons. Racers Edge Motorsports, though not entered for the test days, has a new 2010 model entered for the race.

The 2009 season was a development year for the Dodge Challenger, and TPN Racing/Blackforest Motorsports team owner Tom Nastasi said he believes the car should be in competition for victories and a championship in 2010. In fact, Nastasi will field two Dodge Challengers throughout the season.

In ST, two Kia Forte Koups will be fielded Kinetic Motorsports, which also returns its GS program with multiple BMW M3s. Among those driving Kias are former Rolex Series champion Andy Lally and Continental Tire Challenge titlists Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood. The Kias are expected only to compete in the race.

MAZDASPEED3s will be in full forces as well, with Freedom Autosport (only for the race) and Team Sahlen (both test days and the race) switching to the cars after successful runs in other Mazda models. LRT Racing, which competed only at Daytona in 2009, brings back an Honda Civic Si to the test. The car led in class during the 2009 Fresh From Florida 200.