Guy Cosmo Ready To Rock Around The Clock At Daytona

With practice and qualifying out of the way, Guy Cosmo is setting his sights on two trips around the clock and a run for the checker flag when Extreme Speed Motorsports takes their maiden GRAND-AM run for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona. The #03 Patron Ferrari will take the green flag at 3:30pm Saturday.

"Kicking off the season with the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona with ESM & Patrón is a really special treat," said Guy Cosmo. The Rolex 24 is an event we all want to be a part of and win. "Better yet, we get to do it together as a team with two seasons experience under our belt.  The team is really strong, and regardless of our result our presence will be felt for sure. This is an extremely challenging and unpredictable race. I just can't wait for the green flag to drop."

"My teammate, Ed Brown, is really developing into a pro-level driver," Cosmo noted. "He has made great strides these past two years, and I really believe this is the year we'll get to show our true potential. For the 24 Ed and I will be teamed up in the #03 Patrón Ferrari with Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek. I wouldn't trade teammates with anyone."

Cosmo couldn't be more pleased with the team's growth and the decision to add GRAND-AM races to the 2012 season.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of the Extreme Speed Motorsports organization," Guy continued. "Scott Sharp and ESM have assembled an incredibly strong group, and they continue to give me every opportunity to shine.  I take great pride in knowing when I'm behind the wheel of an ESM / Patrón Ferrari, I'm one of, if not the quickest of cars on track.  And every time I strap into a Patrón Ferrari I've got the necessary tools and support to bring home the results we deserve."

"I couldn't be more excited about 2012," said Guy in closing.  "I've got a great home with Extreme Speed Motorsports & Tequila Patrón, and with their expansion in North American sports car racing, it's going to to be a very busy year for me.  As a pro driver, that's all you want - more driving and more racing."

The race will be broadcast live on SPEED from 2:30pm to 11:00pm on Saturday and will resume from 9:00am on Sunday morning through to the checkered flag.

Guy Cosmo, 2005 American Le Mans Series Rookie of the Year competed last season in the No. 02 Extreme Speed Motorsports Patrón Ferrari. Cosmo is a race record-holder at Mid-Ohio (for fastest lap in the GTC series, which he set in 2009 in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup). Cosmo has 28 starts in the American Le Mans Series, finishing in the top-five 18 times and has been on the winner’s podium twice. In addition to being an accomplished driver, Cosmo is also a highly sought-after driving instructor. Find out more about Guy Cosmo at http://www.guycosmo.com and follow Guy through the racing weekend on Twitter @guycosmo.

Friday Update

Howdy!  It's Friday at Daytona, and although this is the FRIDAY update, let's start with a little info about yesterday.  Thursday is always the 2nd longest day of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  We had team meetings, driver meetings, two practice sessions, qualifying, then night practice. We were at it all day! The car ran well despite a tiny gearbox oil leak in the first session that cost us most of our track time in that session, but it was an easy fix and the car ran flawlessly for the rest of the day. Johannes van Overbeek qualified our #03 Patron Ferrari, but not as well as he would have hoped. We were a bit off on the setup and he battled understeer during the qualifying session, ultimately finishing in the 12th spot - in an amazingly competitive GT field of 40-something cars.  However, we've got a very solid car that we know will be fast for 24 hours, so we're not too worried about the starting position.

After that, I did finally get behind the wheel during night practice and had a good, short run - and that was it! Driving time is pretty minimal at an event like this, especially when you're sharing the car with three other drivers!

Today?  It's been a pretty easy day for us!  Slept in a bit, watched Johannes turn a few laps in one of the practice sessions this morning, then had a little team meeting and spent some solid time doing driver change practice - and that's about it!  Hanging around and relaxing, updating all my social media :), and about to sit down with the engineers and my teammates for our race strategy meeting.  Then we're done until all the pre-race ceremonies tomorrow, for the big day!

I'll update a bit more tonight.  Thanks for reading!

Pre-Qualifying

We call him "Yoyo", and this is the calm before the storm! About to Qualify!

Practice 1 - Pics

Some pics from pit lane

Wednesday: Move-in Day!

Well, I've made it to Daytona! Today all the teams parked, unloaded & got all set up for the big race. I met up with the ESM crew to say hi, check out the car, go over final fitment & cockpit changes, go over our run plan for the week and get all settled in! The weather is amazing, probably the best I've ever seen at Daytona for the Rolex 24. Let's hope it stays that way!

Had a nice dinner with my teammates tonight and am getting to bed early, as we've got an early and LONG day tomorrow with team meetings, drivers meetings, two practice sessions, qualifying and then night practice! Everything happens in the first day, it's crazy!

I'll report throughout the day, so keep an eye on the Twitter feed above. At the end of the night I'll whip up another quick blurb about the day.

Who's planning to attend this weekend? Leave a comment below and get the conversation going!

Leading up to the Rolex 24!

Ok, here's a little info to get you up to speed on my drive in this year's 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona!

Long story short, Extreme Speed Motorsports - my full-time drive in the American Le Mans Series - has chosen to expand thier racing program and compete in a partial season of Grand-Am Rolex Series competition, in addition to our full-season assault on the 2012 American Le Mans Series championship.  That decision required an all-new Ferrari 458 Italia GT racing machine built specifically to Grand-Am specifications, which arrived in early December.  Since then we've tested the car twice with much success.  Earlier this month at the official Rolex 24 test at Daytona International Speedway we left on top of the time sheets, and learned a lot about the new machine - which differs quite a bit from the ALMS/GT2 spec cars.

Since then the team has worked tirelessly on the race week preparation of the car, all the equipment and all of the spare parts that need to be readily available in case of emergency during the race.  As for me, I've continued to work with Ed Brown (President & CEO of the Patron Spirits Company - and my teammate) on driving simulators and data review in preparation for the event, as well as keeping up my fitness program and loving life in general... :)

Tomorrow is move-in day when all the teams park their trailers and unload all of the beautifully prepared race cars, and we finalize all remaining details before practice starts on Thursday.

Wish us luck, and stay tuned to this page for more updates throughout each day!

Guy ~