It’s been just over a month since the season opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, and Memo Gidley along with the Doran Racing Team have been anxiously preparing for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Miami in Homestead, Florida. The #77 McDonalds car had a stellar start to the first race of the new season of GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 racing as Memo “the rain meister” Gidley, stole the show for the first 1.5 hours. Gidley started 11th and sliced through the field in the extremely difficult and wet conditions to get the McDonalds #77 out front and pulling away. The wet, widely known as the “great equalizer,” showed once again why Gidley is one of the best in the business.
“It was awesome for me that it rained and I was able to drive the McDonalds car past everybody and lead the Rolex 24… such a famous race,” said Gidley. “The feeling of being in first and having that clear track ahead is something that I live for, and it felt awesome!”
Since that time, the Doran Team – in typical Doran style – completely disassembled the #77 to begin a month-long rebuild to make sure everything was perfect in preparation for this weekend’s event. “I am a very detailed oriented person and I will say that even then, Kevin and his team always impress me with how nicely the #77 car is prepared each and every weekend,” said Gidley. “The Doran team has more pride in what they do than just about any team that I have worked with.”
Gidley will be teamed up this weekend with up-and-coming driver Dion VonMoltke. Dion has raced twice in Grand Am Prototypes with a couple of teams, including the Homestead race in 2009 and this past Rolex 24 in January. “I have gotten to know Dion over the last year from the racetrack and from the test we did together at Daytona over the winter,” said Gidley. “Not only has he been quick, he has a good attitude, takes his racing very seriously and he and his family have been really nice to be around. I think we will be very good teammates and I’m excited to see what we can do together.”
The Grand Prix of Miami takes place this weekend, March 5-6th. Green flag action kicks off Saturday March 6th at 5pm. The race will be televised live on Speed 5pm EST.