Photos: Grand Am

Early season testing ahead of this month’s Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona International Speedway also saw Continental Tire GS-class racers testing their cars and checking out the newly-repaved surface on the 3.56-mile, 12-turn course.

Seven Mustangs showed up for the event and some turned in excellent results. Scott Maxwell, piloting the #15 Multimatic Motorsport’s Mustang Boss 302R topped the results in the Saturday afternoon session, leading the 30 Grand Sport entries that has showed up.

Todd Snyder, in the #21 Mustang FR500C set a benchmark result early on, posting a 1:58.350 lap at an average speed of 108.29 mph. During the third test session, the team upped the ante further with a 1:58.317 (108.319 mph) lap.

ROUSH Performance was on hand with a new Mustang Boss 302R. Co-driver, Billy Johnson, could hardly contain his enthusiasm. “Insofar as speed, it didn’t disappoint us. It was very fast,” Johnson confirmed. Jack Roush, both Senior and Junior, were on hand to oversee some of the new car’s testing.

Mustang Challenge series veterans, Tony Buffomante and Kyle Gimple, showed up with their #68 Capaldi Racing Mustang, looking to leverage their past performance into contention here. They will have plenty of both opportunity and challenge with the 10-race schedule this year.

The Grand Am Continental Tire Challenge 200 starts at 1:30 p.m. ET, on Friday, January 28.