Pontiac And Banner Racing To Run Next-Gen Pontiac Car In 2007 Grand-Am GT Championship

“The GT class is looking to be even more competitive in ’07 with at least two new brands entering the series, so we wanted to improve our championship-winning package and we believe we have accomplished that goal,” said Steve Sitek, Pontiac brand promotion manager. “Leighton Reese and his team have been road racing for over 20 years. In the '90s Leighton raced a Pontiac Grand Prix body style in the Trans-Am series, so we are just uncovering his roots with our brand.”

The Pontiac GXP.R is the next step in the evolution of Pontiac’s GT class championship program that began with the GTO.R in 2005. Pontiac and GM Racing, together with Pratt & Miller Engineering, spent the latter part of the ’06 season re-designing and fabricating the all new GXP.R, which will make its competitive debut in upcoming Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

Leighton Reese Racing was formed in 1986 and Reese has raced GM products exclusively throughout his motorsports career. The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based team competed in the Trans-Am series with a Pontiac Grand Prix in the 1990s. Most recently his team has been running in the Rolex Series with a Corvette as well as the SPEED GT World Challenge series, also with a Corvette. The team will run the entire 2007 Rolex Series schedule with two Banner Engineering/Leighton Reese Racing Pontiac GXP.Rs. Reese will be a driver and GM factory drivers Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards will also be members of the team.

"The Rolex Series is obviously a very competitive arena and we have some pretty big shoes to fill,” said Leighton Reese. “We're going to be compared to last year's championship GT team, TRG, which was extremely successful. I think the competition is going to be even tougher this year but we have good people and good equipment. We'll definitely put up a good fight. We're thrilled that Pontiac asked us to be a part of the Grand-Am deal. This is a world-class program and we're looking forward to the chance of making Pontiac and Banner Engineering proud. We have a lot of work in front of us in preparation for the Rolex 24."

2007 Rolex Series GT Schedule

Daytona test December 5-6

Homestead, Florida test January 4-6

Rolex 24 At Daytona January 27-28

Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez March 3

Homestead-Miami Speedway March 24

Virginia International Raceway April 29

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca May 20

Lime Rock Park May 28*

Watkins Glen Six Hours June 9

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course June 23

Daytona International Speedway July 5

Iowa Speedway July 14

Barber Motorsports Park July 22

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve August 3

Infineon Raceway August 25

Miller Motorsports Park September 15

*GT only

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