When you looked at this years race calender one would have assumed that packing shorts, a few t-shirts and flip flops would be the best choice of clothing for this weekend’s race. If you went this route you would have been in dire straights as when Grand-Am rolled into Homestead, FL they brought the rain with them. Lots of rain.
Homestead is just south of Miami and one of the final stops before you get to the Florida Keys. Nestled in this small town in South Florida is a NASCAR Speedway and inside that is a nice little roval. This roval is where the boys of Grand-Am and the supporting Continental Tire series will do battle. Thursday and Friday started with what one comes to expect in Miami. Bright sunshine and lots of blue skies. The tides were quickly turned and the rain started and never let up. Most teams chose to run in the wet to tune their setups as most were banking on a wet race. Those that went this route were rewarded as both races were run mostly in the wet.
At the end of the Kia 200 a Porsche stood tall and on the top step of the podium. A valiant effort as they started from dead last of the GS field after a technical rule infraction after qualifying. In ST class Insight Racing’s BMW 128i was the hero of the weekend. Their Black/White livery looked wonderful under the cloudy skies.
The big show was quite the affair as a downpour started as soon as the field was ready to roll off. The rain never let up to the point caution flags were flown during the race to bring the speeds down. It simply was not safe to run the cars. This eventually led to the race being ended early. With this the teams that had not pitted ended up being up front. A Ferrari 458 GT took it’s first Grand-AM race win and the Suntrust Racing Corvette won the DP class. New Jersey is the next stop for the Grand-AM road show! We will be there to provide coverage!
Timing/Scoring –Â www.Grand-Am.com
Kia 200 Full Timing/Recap
Grand Prix of Miami Full Timing/Recap
Credit: Photo – Halston Pitman/Trevor Andrusko MotorSportMedia
Words – Halston Pitman
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