A GTO drift car shows its...
A GTO drift car shows its stuff.
Andy Lally/Mark Bunting and Jan Magnussen/Paul Edwards were selected as the drivers for the two GTO.R entries in the GT classes, where the two duos scored four victories in eight starts after the GTO.R's debut in June. The four drivers also collected seven podium finishes. Bunting and Lally finished the season just one point behind Porsche's Craig Stanton for the driver's title. They will be powerful contenders for the championship next year in their first full season behind the wheel of the GTO.R.
During Pontiac's second year of participation in the Formula D Drifting Series, driver Rhys Millen won the driver's title in his GTO. This came just a year after being booed by fans used to seeing only small, rear-drive foreign makes competing. As the sport originated in Japan, the Japanese makes were already dominant by the time the phenomenon reached North America. The series and the culture have since grown to accept a wider array of entries.
Competing against exotic domestic and international vehicles and skilled drivers, Millen maintained his points lead throughout the six Formula D events to bring home Pontiac's first drifting driver's crown. Two years ago, Pontiac entered the series as the first American manufacturer. Millen's achievements in the GTO have helped expose the sport of drifting to an American audience while also demonstrating the capabilities of the GTO.
"The Pontiac GTO you see on the road today excels in power, handling, and performance," says Kent. "The engineers at GM Racing have worked diligently to translate these qualities to the race versions of the GTO. Thanks to these engineering efforts, along with the talent from our Pontiac drivers and teams, Pontiac is gaining a reputation for exceptional motorsport performance and competence in every series in which it competes."
Production GTOs also found...
Production GTOs also found themselves to be competent cars on the road course. Here an instructor shows one of the journalists how to attack a corner.
Seat Time In Pontiac's Racers
Beyond the headlines and the smiling photos are some extremely interesting stories and people. To help fans get a better grasp on what Pontiac is doing in its post-NASCAR career, a group of five journalists, HPP included, were invited to the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix for a two-day press event. The event showcased the cars and personalities that are making racing history for Pontiac today. In addition to meeting and greeting, we were also given new production GTOs to drive on the Bondurant road course in preparation for our actually getting to take the wheel of the GTO.R race car to put it through its paces and experience first-hand what road racing is all about.
Before that all happened, Bondurant instructors showed us how to properly handle the GTOs on a road course. The other four journalists were all experienced road racers, either running vintage race cars or prepared late-model street cars. As the only journalist without such a background, I was most in need of the training. Indeed, I hadn't been on a road course in more than seven years, so to say I was rusty was an understatement. I jokingly referred to myself as the "William Hung" of the event, but I listened to what the instructors told me and tried my best to put it into practice. The other drivers were in no danger of being passed by yours truly, however I could feel myself going through the turns quicker as the day wore on.
Say what you will about the Pontiac GTOs, they are nothing short of amazing on a road course. It was astonishing to me that a street car weighing over 2 tons with me in it could be so nimble on a tight road course more suited to lightweight racers. It cornered with enough force to get me slightly motion sick after about a half-hour.
The cockpit is tight in the...
The cockpit is tight in the Daytona Prototype
As one would expect, the power was fantastic, and in all honesty could not be fully utilized on such a tight, winding track. The throw on the shifter was a little on the long side, but the linkage was firm and precise. Brakes were effective, though with such a brutal course and my relative inexperience, they did start to fade after a while, though it wasn't excessive. I was surprised they lasted as long as they did. With an afternoon behind the wheel in conditions that 99.9 percent of GTO drivers will probably never experience, I can say with all confidence that I was not able to push it beyond its capabilities-it is that good a performance machine.
The next morning, we were scheduled to ride shotgun in the Krohn Racing Daytona Prototype and the GTO.R, and then actually pilot the TRG Racing GTO.R. I was especially interested in experiencing the Daytona Prototype, as it was an endurance machine set up to run for extended periods quickly and reliably. Watching it zip around the track so effortlessly, I wanted to see what it was like inside-would it be as graceful inside as it appeared to spectators, or would it be like a duck gliding across a pond, where you don't really see what's going on below the surface? Let me tell you, these cars are amazing, both in terms of what they are capable of doing and the lengths they will go to challenge the drivers physically. Those who think race car drivers are not athletes have never been near racing. It is grueling in ways that cannot be adequately described. Race cars are completely unforgiving, and they force one to conform to it rather than the other way around.