IMSA: Spirit of Daytona ready for the Roar after testing crash

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Troy Flis and his Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP team didn’t have much time to admire the brand-new C7 bodywork before repairs were required after driver Michael Valiante suffered a recent testing crash at Sebring.

The Canadian ace emerged unscathed from the accident, and the blue No. 90 chassis has received plenty of attention over the holidays as SDR gets ready for next week’s Roar Before the 24. With replacement parts and mended carbon fiber coming together, Flis told RACER his program has quickly overcome the setback.

“We had an incident when we were testing, but we’ll be good to go – we’re excited about the new car, and the test went well up until it ended,” he said. “I wish we’d gotten to test some more of the new pieces on the list for next year, but we should be able to make up for it at the Roar.”

Compared to SDR driver Richard Westbrook taking flight in testing with the No. 90 at Daytona in November of 2013, Flis says the damage from Sebring is a minor hurdle.

 “There’s some bodywork that’s getting finished up, so realistically, we just need to complete that and we’ll have all of our spares ready, too,” he noted. “It’s more of a workload for the guys, but it’s nothing new. It was nothing nearly as catastrophic as last year.”

Westbrook, Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller will return to pilot SDR’s Corvette DP at Daytona, and with an increased partnership from sponsor VisitFlorida.com, Flis is confident in the direction the program is headed.

“The car looks cool, and we’re ready to get after it and get going,” he said. “We’re excited we’ve kept all of our crew together, all of our drivers with Rocky, Richard, and Michael, and we can pick up at the Roar where we left off.

“We know we left some things on the table late in the season, and we’ve been working on stepping up in every area. We were competitive in testing at Sebring, and we can’t wait to get the championship under way.”