Oryx Racing Forced To Miss “Grand Prix of Miami” At Homestead

Oryx Racing Press Release

Oryx Racing owner Humaid Al Masaood (UAE) has reluctantly withdrawn his entry for the third round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.

Al Masaood must now unexpectedly remain in the United Arab Emirates due to unforeseen business commitments during the week of the “Grand Prix of Miami” at the Homestead Miami Speedway (US State of Florida) on April 29.

Al Masaood, who is driving the Audi R8 GRAND-AM along with Steven Kane (GB) in the North American series for the first time, believes it would be of no benefit, at least on this occasion, to retain an entry and run with a “substitute” driver.

Oryx Racing will now actively use the coming weeks to test and further evaluate the R8 Grand-Am with Kane at the helm.

Tom Maplethorpe (GB), Team Manager:
“Humaid is bitterly disappointed about being unable to race at Homestead next weekend but understandably his business must come first. We believe that there would be no point in going to Homestead with another driver alongside Steven [Kane] for a one-off race – it wouldn’t be fair to that person and we don’t see that it would be of any benefit to the team. We’re planning a number of tests so as to make progress with the development of the Audi R8 Grand-Am.”

Oryx Racing
Oryx Racing is owned by UAE National Humaid Al Masaood and has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi (UAE) with its new for 2012 Grand-Am project based out of Winchester (US State of Virginia). The team’s development has been meteoric since its formation at the end of 2010. Oryx finished second (SP3) on its race début in the 2011 Dubai 24 Hours before contesting the opening two races in the European-based FIA Speed EuroSeries. In 2011, Oryx Dyson Racing finished fourth in the American Le Mans Series’ LMP1 Team Championship – Masaood & Kane fifth in the Drivers’ standings – despite only contesting the final seven races. In 2012, Oryx Racing competes in the GT category of the North America-based 13-race GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.

Audi R8 GRAND-AM
V10 5.2-litre engine, 4 valves per cylinder, petrol direct injection, power 480hp, over 500Nm, emission control by two racing catalytic converters, rear-wheel-drive, sequential pneumatic activated 6-speed sport gearbox with shift-paddles, Audi Space Frame (ASF) made of aluminum with bolted steel roll-cage, carbon-fibre composite/aluminium bodywork, Continental radial tyres. Minimum start weight 1,285kg. Developed by Audi Sport with cooperation from quattro GmbH. The mid-engined Audi R8 LMS recorded 118 race wins and 13 championship titles around the world (2009-11) while 2012 marks the first year the R8 has raced in GRAND-AM or indeed North America.

Oryx Racing unlucky Rolex Series round 2 at Alabama with the Audi R8 GRAND-AM

Oryx Racing Press Release

Oryx Racing recorded an unrepresentative 15th placing in the “Porsche 250” at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. A handling imbalance frustratingly restricted the pace of the Oryx Racing #74 Audi R8 GRAND-AM throughout the 165-minute race, neither Humaid Al Masaood or Steven Kane confident of pushing hard in the mid-engined sportscar.

Al Masaood, having posted the 12th best GT class time in the 28-car field comprising of 19 GT cars during the black flag interrupted 15-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning, began the race around the picturesque, undulating 2.3-mile, 17-corner track with high hopes. But while Al Masaood was content and happy with the Audi’s handling in qualifying, Humaid’s feelings were the exact opposite for his 54mins stint from the green flag – lack of rear end grip heavily restricting the UAE driver’s pace.

Kane took over from Al Masaood during the race’s second full course yellow and was posting times comparable with the top-six in class before the outright race leading Daytona Prototype class car of Memo Rojas forced Kane wide and off the track. The Ulsterman rejoined without hitting anything but the Audi now had steering damage – Rojas subsequently penalized for avoidable contact for the manouvre.

“It was very hot today and we struggled but we finished the race so the reliability is there.” Commented Steven Kane “There were brief phases when the Audi allowed me to set good, fast lap times before the handling deteriorated rapidly again. Overtaking was difficult with no long straights and no big braking zones. Like Daytona, Birmingham was again completely new to us and the complete opposite of the Florida track with Barber having an undulating nature. The team worked hard on achieving a good balance with the R8 and they did a great job for qualifying. But for whatever reason, the car’s handling was not right in the race – from the start to the finish. Oryx Racing is a great team and everyone is working exceptionally hard on what is a very new GT programme for us, and for that matter, Audi, in GRAND-AM. We knew it would be a steep learning curve but with every lap and mile we clock up, our databank of knowledge increases. It’s a challenge but one that we look forward in cracking as the season progresses.”

Humaid al Masaood, who had qualified the car, noted “The set-up wasn’t ideal for qualifying but overall I was happy. I only managed seven laps and data showed I was up by at least two-tenth’s of a second on my fastest lap but I spun after pushing too hard on my final lap. It actually marked the first time I’ve ever qualified myself for a race in the US since racing here for almost a year. I was very optimistic for a good race but immediately from the green flag the handling was poor with just no rear grip. I was not prepared to be aggressive due to the unpredictable handling – I’m bitterly disappointed. But it’s a case of each race we are learning about the R8 GRAND-AM and improving. The entire team is working very hard which makes it doubly frustrating and depressing but we’ll go away and come back stronger at Homestead.”

Follow Oryx Racing's USA adventure at the next race in the 13-round schedule is at the Homestead Miami Speedway on April 29 – a 2.3-mile combined speedway and road course.

Oryx Racing Audi R8 GRAND-AM: Progress to Barber

Oryx Racing Press Release

Oryx Racing is gearing up for the second race of the 2012 Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series this weekend at the Barber Motorsports Park circuit in Birmingham, Alabama.

The team with just one race behind them in the all new, Audi R8 Grand-AM, will come up against some of America’s most renowned and competitive sports car teams. Commenting on the upcoming race, Al Masaood said, “The first race at Daytona was all about gathering as much performance data as possible which gave us a good knowledge base to develop the car throughout the season.  We hope to be more competitive at Barber, but as always our goal is always to run without mistakes at a consistent pace and work with the Audi engineers to further develop the car.”

The 2.4 mile Barber Motorsports Park circuit is considered, one of North America’s finest road courses.  “I’ve never raced at the Barber Motorsports Park.” said Al Masaood. “I have friends who live in the lovely state of Alabama and I know how much they love their racing, it should be a thrill to race the challenging circuit in front of an enthusiastic and well informed crowd”

"I can't wait to get back in the car" Steven Kane commented, "we learned a lot about the car at Daytona and had stong lap times but we were hampered by the clutch problems.  I am confident we can run near the pace of the quickest GT cars at Barber and I am looking forward to mixing it with the front running teams."  

Oryx Racing fans can now follow the team direct from the pit box via the twitter feed below or by following the team @OryxRacing

More Information:

Oryx Racing official website

Oryx Racing official Facebook

Audi R8 GRAND-AM Positive Debut At The Rolex 24

By Tarek Ramchani :

The 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona marked the American race debut for the brand new Audi R8 GRAND-AM. 2 teams represented Audi in Florida's prestigious endurance event. Grand-Am regulars APR Motorsport, moved to the major Rolex Series, after years racing exclusively the Grand-Am Challenge. The other team is Oryx Racing, from the United Arab Emirates, last season they did the American Le Mans Series.

Radically diffrent from its original FIA GT3 Spec version, to meet the Grand-Am GT rules. The R8 GRAND-AM did pretty well in qualifying. The #74 Oryx Racing got a nice 15th in class, less than a second, from the pole sitting Porsche GT3 Cup. While the #51 APR Motorsport car ended in 22nd. Not bad for a world class GT field, made by a mega 42 cars entry. With APR adding Audi's veteran and star Emanuele Pirro for their drivers line-up.

The race started saturday afternoon. Immediatelly Oryx Racing's R8 improved in hands of Steven Kane . Moving up to 8th position in class. While APR car running with consistent lap times in the middle of the GT pack. Entering the first hours of the race, bad luck started to hit both Audis. Some contacts with other cars, or some technical issues. Problems that sent them back of the GT class standing. Both teams never give up and each time returned on track fighting hard. Same bad luck hit again the #51 APR car, with only few minutes to go. The R8 crashed at the Bus Stop chicane. Again the team brought back the car to the pits and did everything to send it back on track. Great team efforts as the #51 machine resumed in the very final stages and made it to the finish line. Very emotional for a brand new racer and 2 rookie teams.

The Audi R8 GRAND-AM did quite well, as seen in qualifying and the first stages of the race. Proving it could fight and challenge the top GT cars of the series from Porsche, Chevrolet or Ferrari. Not bad for a debut in North American sports car racing. Next roud of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is at Barber Motorsport Park, March 31st.