Ferrrari GT assult on Rolex 24 At Daytona

The man who led the TWR Jaguar squad to overall victory in the 24 Hour classic in 1988 and 1990 and a class win in 1992, Dowe has assembled a top-line international driver line up for the January race for his Aten Motorsports squad featuring German Dominik Farnbacher, Brit Rob Bell and Danish driver Allan Simonsen.

All three have achieved great success aboard the Ferrari 430 in the past and the trio have a successful driving history together as teammates.

Farnbacher finished second with Dirk Müller in the GT class of the 2008 American Le Mans Series for Tafel Racing – a team run by Tony Dowe.

The 26-year-old  also has been driving a Ferrari alongside Simonsen for the past two seasons in the European-based Le Mans Series.  Their results have included a 2nd place in GT at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and victory in the Asian Le Mans Series last year.

Farnbacher also contested Sebring and Petit Le Mans with Scott Sharp’s Extreme Speed Motorsports aboard a 430 last season.

Both Simonsen (32) and Bell (31) also contested endurance races for the Dowe-led Tafel team in 2008 the duo also drove together in the Le Mans Series in 2007 – Bell taking the series crown.  Only a clashing V8 Supercar race in Australia prevented Simonsen from having him share the championship with his teammate. Bell took his second LMS GT crown in 2008.

Simonsen  also regularly competes in the British GT Championship aboard a 430 GT – winning the final round of this year’s championship at Donington Park.

The Ferrari 430 GT has never won in Rolex Series competition – a fact Dowe, Farnbacher, Bell and Simonsen are looking to erase in January at Daytona. The last Rolex Series victories for the Prancing Horse marque were in 2002 when the Ferrari of Washington-entered Ferrari 360 GT won five races en route to the series championship.

Ferrari however does have a strong winning heritage at Daytona. Pedro Rodríguez won a three-hour sportscar event at Daytona in 1963 and teamed up with Phil Hill to win a 2000-mile enduro the following year.

Ferrari’s first 24 Hour victory came in 1967 with Lorenzo Bandini and Chris Amon while legends Marino Andretti and Jacky Ickx won a six-hour event in 1972.

Ferrari’s last overall win came in 1998 with Mauro Baldi, Arie Luyendyk, Gianpiero Moretti and Didier Theys winning aboard a 333SP.

At the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Aten Motorsports squad will face stiff opposition – doing battle against the 2010 championship-winning Mazda RX8s and additional entries from Porsche, BMW, the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette plus a new Lamborghini.

Dowe’s distinguished career began in the UK, working as a mechanic in Formula 1 for the Ensign, Brabham and Wolf teams before heading to the US in 1980 as chief mechanic for Patrick Tambay’s championship winning CanAM car entered by Carl Haas.

After working for Jim Hall’s Chaparral outfit in Indycars, Dowe was appointed as team manager for the newly formed Newman-Haas Indycar outfit in 1982 – eventually winning the title in 1984.

He was charged with establishing the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar US-base in late 1987 and began a remarkable run of success including three Daytona victories, 16 IMSA GTP wins and success at the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans running the car of Martin Brundle, John Nielsen and Price Cobb.

Further stints followed in Formula 1 with the TWR group at Ligier and Arrows before returning stateside to run successful programs for Panoz, Dick Barbour and Tafel Racing – all based in Atlanta. He also took a class win at Daytona in 2003 running the Team Seattle SRP2 cars to 1st and 2nd in class.

The new Aten Motorsports #00 Ferrari 430 GT will hit the track for the first time prior to Thanksgiving in Sebring before final preparations commence for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test days from January 7-9.

Dowe has pulled people from many of the past successful programs to form the core of the Aten Motorsports team for Daytona. Partners and sponsors for the campaign will be announced closer to the event.

The 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona will be staged from January 27-30 and will be broadcast live on SPEED in the US.