Fantasy Junction with Winding Road Racing Brings Daytona Prototype To Thunderhill

Features, Racing I By Winding Road Staff I November 15, 2016
Fantasy Junction with Winding Road Racing is bringing a Riley MkXI Daytona Prototype to Thunderhill for the 25 Hours this December. The team’s goal is to win overall in the now classic off-season NASA endurance contest. Migliore Motorsports will be in charge of the car, with Migliore head man Nico Castellaccio leading the engineering and crew. He will be joined by Car Chief Abel Jimenez from Matador Motorsports, Dennis Chizma, Loren Burgess, and Bill Margraf. Castellaccio is a veteran of the 25 Hours, with wins in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Castellaccio is an endurance racing expert who has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, as well as winning the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. 
 
The team is running this special car as a reflection of the growing competition at the front of the field. "We have fielded teams in nearly every 12 and 25 hour NASA race since their inception, and we have been on the podium many times" team leader Spencer Trenary said. "In 2014, we finished second overall and first in ES with the Award Racing Porsche GT3 Cup car. This year we wanted to take it up a notch, so we are running a Daytona Prototype in ESR class that we have converted from 5.0L to 6.2L, added a sixth gear, and some significant downforce. We are looking forward to a very competitive race next month."
 
NASA reports that driver competition will be strong as well: "Professional drivers listed on the entry include: Kenton Koch, Bryan Herta, Colton Herta, Ryan Eversley, Al Unser Jr., Kyle Marcelli, Randy Pobst, Burt Frisselle, Brian Frisselle, Dion von Moltke, Colin Braun, Johannes van Overbeek, Darren Law, Tommy Sadler, Sean Rayhall, Darren Law, Tyler McQuarrie, Kelly Collins, Taz Harvey, with more expected."
 
 
Driving the Fantasy Junction with Winding Road Racing #15 Daytona Prototype car will be Trenary, who has IMSA experience, as well as multi-time Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona starter Rob Gewirtz and Darrell Anderson who was second overall at the 25 in 2015.  Winding Road’s Mark Drennan completes the driver lineup. Drennan has previously won the 25 Hours in E1 class. He is also two-time national champion in Spec Miata, national champion in Spec e46, Rookie of the Year in SCCA Pro MX-5 Cup and one of the pioneers of using PC-based simulators as a path to road racing success.
 
"I have quite a bit of experience at the 25 Hours, so I know that calculated passing is critical," said Drennan. "At the same time, this Riley Daytona Prototype has a level of power and downforce that is new to me, so — as is often the case — practice and preparation will play an important role in our results. Fortunately, the Gen 1 DP was one of the primary cars I drove early in my simulator career, so I feel very comfortable in it."
 
Watch for more coverage of the team and the 25 Hours on WindingRoad.com. 
 
For more information on the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill visit nasa25hour.com.
 
Fantasy Junction sells historically significant European classic and racing cars in Emeryville, California. For more information visit fantasyjunction.com.
 

Winding Road Racing is the official motorsports equipment supplier of NASA. For more information visit WindingRoadRacing.com. 

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