Motorsport: Franchitti brothers team up at Chip Ganassi Racing

Published on Monday 11 January 2010 08:38

FRANCHITTI brothers Dario and Marino will both drive BMW-powered Riley prototypes for the Chip Ganassi Racing team in this month's Daytona 24-Hours, but the Bathgate duo will go head-to-head in different cars, writes JIM McGILL.

While double IndyCar champ, 36-year-old Dario, will drive the No.2 Ganassi car, 30-year-old Marino, the former British GT champ and current American Le Mans Series racer, will lead the team's assault in the No.1 car.

Both cars took turns topping the timesheets in the weekend's first official test at the 3.56-mile Daytona course, which went ahead despite the ice and snow showers which hit the Florida track.

"It's going to be terrific not only to be in the same team as my brother, but to race against him in an identical car," Marino — who will be partnered by former Grand-Am champs and Daytona winners Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, plus IndyCar race-winner Justin Wilson from Sheffield — said.

"It's not the weather you'd expect in Florida, but we're going to be putting a lot of hard work in ahead of the race in three weeks and I'm confident we can get both cars on the podium."

The Franchitti brothers will also be joined by two other Scots on the Daytona grid. Wishaw's Ryan Dalziel posted the second-quickest time in testing in his Porsche-Riley, just 0.078s behind the lead BMW.

In the lighter GT class, Edinburgh's Robin Liddell topped the timesheets with a time of 1:50.565. Liddell will be partnered in his Camaro GT-R by Andrew Davis and former Stewart Grand Prix racer Jan Magnussen for the Daytona 24-Hours on 30/31 January.