GRAND AM live on Motors TV in 2012

The GRAND-AM Road Racing championship joins Motors TV in 2012 with live coverage of the full season.

Launched in 1999, the series kicks off with its most prestigious race, the 24 Hours of Daytona (January 26-29), which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Grand-Am features two distinct categories: Daytona Prototype and GT. DPs are closed cockpit cars produced by chassis builders Riley, Dallara, Lola, Doran, Coyote and Corvette, powered by 5-litre V8s from Porsche, BMW, Ford, Infiniti and Lexus. The faster class, Daytona Prototype boasts a top speed in excess of 300km/h.

The GT category meanwhile features grand touring's usual suspects: Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Pontiac, Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, Mazda, Nissan, Ford, Jaguar and Audi. 

In addition to the marquee event, the series also competes on North America’s premier road circuits, including Watkins Glen, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Indianapolis and Montreal. The standard race distance is 2 hours 45 minutes, with the six hours of Watkins Glen and Daytona being the exception to the rule.

In order to score points drivers must race for a minimum of 30 minutes and at least one lap under green flag conditions. Points are allocated on a 35-32-30-28-26-25 etc basis with the top 30 classified scoring.

The DP class features some well-known teams, including Chip Ganassi, Krohn, Flying Lizard, Level 5 Sun Trust Racing, Action Express Racing and Starworks.

In 2011 Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates – Riley-Chevrolet) won its third title in four years whilst in GT the Porsche duo of Leh Keen and Andrew Davis took top honours.

In addition to the endurance specialists, the Daytona 24 Hours also features stars from NASCAR and open-wheel racing. The 2012 entry list is a whose who of today’s top-line competitors from Jorg Bergmeister, Sébastien Bourdais, IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe, Kyle Busch to Chris Dyson, Carl Edwards, Dario and Mario Franchitti and former Formula 1 starJuan-Pablo Montoya, without forgetting the last minute entry from Starworks Motorsports and its trio of Allan McNish, Lucas Luhr and Tony Kanaan.

The Grand Am season represents a thrilling addition to Motors TV's live programming line-up, joinung the likes NASCAR Nationwide Series and ALMS