Napleton Racing Will Field A Porsche Cayman S In Next Month’s Rolex 24 At Daytona

lowly but surely GRAND-AM’s newest category – GX – continues to grow. Napleton Racing, a veteran professional team based out of Chicago-area dealership Napleton Porsche of Westmont, will field the team’s winning Porsche Cayman S in next month’s 51st Rolex 24 at Daytona. The organization earned a pair of GTS class victories and numerous podium finishes with two different Caymans in this year’s World Challenge competition. The team is updating its Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course winning Cayman S to GX specifications.

Napleton is the latest addition to the GX class and joins the Porsche ranks with BGB Motorsports’ Cayman set to be piloted by Ryan Eversley, Lee Davis, Eric Foss, Ron Yarab and John Tecce.

GX will race alongside the Daytona Prototypes and GT cars. GRAND-AM created the class to embrace emerging vehicle technologies to give a greater number of manufacturers the opportunity to showcase their products.

“We have seen some success on track with our Caymans and the challenge of a 24-hour race is definitely intriguing,” said Ed Napleton, owner of the Ed Napleton Automotive Group and a Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship driver. “Racing is still relatively new to me but I have heard about the unique and daunting challenge of 24-hour races from the beginning.

“It is going to be a fun adventure.”

Napleton won’t drive in the Rolex 24 but will join Napleton Porsche of Westmont general manager Ron Barnaba as a team principal in the new effort.

“While this will be our debut, the winning experience we gained this year in World Challenge and in previous seasons in American Le Mans Series and IMSA GT3 Cup competition, will be put to good use. The Cayman S is a good fit for the new GX class and our team is up to the challenge.”

Shane Lewis, a veteran of 15 Rolex 24s, has been signed as the team’s lead driver. A complete driver lineup will be announced in the coming weeks. The Cayman S will be part of the Jan. 4-6 Roar Before the Rolex 24 test.

“Daytona is very, very special to me because I have had great success there in all forms of motorsports and because I consider it one of my home tracks living in Florida,” said Lewis. “There are some very serious competitors coming to the new GX class at Daytona, both manufacturer and team efforts, but I believe the Cayman platform combined with the knowledge and passion of the Napleton organization will give us a real shot at winning.”

Mazda previously announced its intention to field a Mazda6 with SKY-ACTIV Clean Diesel power in the Jan. 26-27, twice-around-the-clock race over Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road courses. Other entry announcements are pending for the class encompassing 13 different models from 12 manufacturers.