Bennett Racing Announces Driving Lineup For The 2011 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona

Altamonte Springs, FL -- (SBWire) -- 01/27/2011 -- Bennett Racing is proud to formally announce the driving lineup for the 2011 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona in their #56 yellow and black liveried Ferrari F430 GT class effort. The drivers include Mike Skeen, Glynn Geddie, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Michael Davidson, and Jonathan Allen. This will mark a departure from the driver seat for Team Principal Skip Bennett who raced in the 2010 season for the first time at the Virginia International Raceway. The 2011 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona is being held on January 29-30, 2011 at the Daytona International Speedway. It is the official start of the 2011 GRAND-AM season.

“We did a lot to the F430 to make it GRAND-AM compliant, and in the end Bennett Racing kind of took a life of its own." exclaims Bennett. "Going into 2011, I really wanted to take a look at raising the level of the performance of the car and team as a whole, as well as my own driving. As things progressed I was so busy out of the car that I didn't see how I'd have time to both drive and ensure everything gets done to the level it needs to be, so I made the tough decision to step out of the car."

Bennett has spent time in Ferrari Challenge competition and built the program around himself and driver coach, Mike Skeen. This season Bennett decided to step back from the driver’s seat and selected an impressive five driver lineup that he believes will give the team the results he desires not merely for the 2011 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona but for the entire 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex season with the lineup initially built around Skeen.

Mike Skeen began racing karts at the age of 10 and went on to win several championships in NASA competition. In the last two seasons, he has been a standout in Trans-Am, Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, and World Challenge GT competition. Jonathan Allen began racing in 1998, and has had many wins with EMRA, BMWCCA, PBOC, NASA and SCCA. Mike Davidson started racing competitively in the NASA SPEC E30 series in 2006. He has multiple series wins and podiums, and has finished in the top 5 at the NASA nationals 3 years in a row. Glynn Geddie was the 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Pro-Am 1 Champion as well as helping his Trackspeed team mate win the 2010 British GT Championship. He is considered one of racing’s fastest rising stars. Jean-Francois Dumoulin made his Rolex Series start in 2000. In 2007, he won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in GT competition.

"The thing I've found to be key is not only setting up a car that is going to be competitive on pace, comfortable for all 5 drivers and their varying styles, but also driver continuity. At the recent test I was impressed with how everyone communicated in general," Bennett said. "We have guys like Glynn that are only 20 years old, but showing excellent pace and skill on through to Dumoulin who has an impressive resume of experience he's bringing to the team. In all I am very pleased with our lineup and our chances to do well this weekend."

Bennett Racing is currently exploring the potential of a full season program and if things go as planned, could look to add additional cars to their stable to compete full time. For more information on the team and drivers, visit http://www.bennett-racing.com or http://www.p1groupe.com.