12-7-2006 - The Paddock.net Year end Review

2006 Rolex Sports Car Series Season Review

The 2006 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve was a year to remember.  Consistency was the name of the game in both the Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring divisions.  From the sunrise at Daytona to the sunset over the Utah desert, not one lap of the 2006 season was considered dull. 

In its fourth year, the Daytona Prototype class has continued to expand each season. It’s hard to imagine that its inaugural race at the 2003 Rolex 24 hours at Daytona featured a DP grid of six cars.  2006 saw an average of over 25 cars at every race.  Aside from Nascar, no other series boasts that amount of week-in-week-out entrants in one single category.  An astounding eight different teams claimed victories in the DP class this year, making it also one of the most diverse championships around. The real winner in the Rolex Sports Car Series continues to be the Daytona Prototype formula.

2006 Daytona Prototype Champion Jorg Bergmeister took home three victories this season, two of which with rising-star Colin Braun.  If it wasn’t for the tobacco laws prohibiting 17-year old Braun from competing in three events, we could have witnessed the youngest-ever champion in professional motorsports.  For the Krohn Racing team, consistency propelled Bergmeister to the title.  The No. 76 Ford powered Riley never finished outside the top ten in all fourteen feature races this year.

The highpoints of the season for Krohn Racing came at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, where Bergmeister and fill-in Boris Said captured the first win.  Two races later, regular co-driver Colin Braun tasted his first win alongside the German in the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona.  Braun and Bergemister made it two wins in a row by claiming victory in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.  Bergmeister had a near picture-perfect year, also claiming the American Le Mans GT2 title.  By the end of the year, he was truly the “Champion of the Americas”.