Grand Prix redesign approved for 2003

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR officials have approved the newly designed Winston Cup Series Pontiac Grand Prix, which will replace the version of the car that has been in service since the mid-1990s beginning at the 2003 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

The car, which has been under development since August 2001, passed a battery of wind tunnel and track tests this spring after GM Racing engineers worked hand-in-hand with NASCAR throughout the process to develop the new race car.

Pontiac's Winston Cup teams are expected to receive body templates from NASCAR in the near future and will likely begin building cars for the 2003 season at some point in the next several weeks.

Amidst rumors that Joe Gibbs Racing will switch from Pontiac to Chevrolet beginning in 2003, Pontiac has been courting teams as possible replacements. Team owner Cal Wells III of PPI Motorsports said he been approached about switching from Ford to Pontiac.

"The approval of the new Grand Prix is a firm statement that Pontiac is a major competitor in NASCAR," Lynn Meyers, general manager, Pontiac-GMC said. "The type of performance we show on the track will translate directly into exciting new products in Pontiac showrooms, including the all-new 2004 Grand Prix and the re-introduction of the Pontiac GTO late next year."

Gibbs' teams, with drivers Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart, assisted in the development of the 2003 prototype along with the two-car Pontiac teams from MB2 and MBV Motorsports.

Whether he's leaving the Pontiac family or not, Labonte's No. 18 MBNA Pontiac crew chief Jimmy Makar praised the car.

"It's not like you have a clean sheet of paper to build this car from, but we had some ideas of what a car like that should have been," Makar said, "as far as downforce on either end of the car and the aerodynamics of it -- what the ratios should have been -- and that's kind of what we set as a benchmark. We worked towards that and the car got to the place that we thought it needed to get to. I think it will be extremely competitive next year."

"We're real happy with the race car," MBV crew chief James Ince said of the car that will replace his No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac driven by Johnny Benson. "It's not necessarily a 'common template' race car. It just brings us more equal to what everybody else has got out there.

"For us, it's something to look forward to. The first one out of the box at Daytona next year is not going to be the best one we ever build. We've got room to improve every week. Pontiac has done a good job, Joe Gibbs Racing did a good job and the guys at MBV/MB2 Motorsports did a good job. We're extremely excited about the opportunity to go run a new car next year."

"This was a new process for us to go through for car approval and we didn't know what to expect," said Doug Duchardt, NASCAR group manager, GM Racing. "In the end, we were impressed at how willing NASCAR was to work with us in making sure that the brand character was very evident in the car.

"The end result of all that is a race car that will clearly be recognized as a Pontiac Grand Prix when it is debuted. NASCAR was with us every step of the way throughout the process and we're very happy with the result."

"We'll work with NASCAR on some track tests for the car later this year," said Ray Smith, program manager, GM Racing. "I'm sure we'll have to have a speedway (superspeedway) test, hopefully after Talladega, and then we'll have to work with NASCAR on a test at a downforce track."