Franchitti eyes Rolex seat

IRL driver Dario Franchitti is closing in on a deal to contest next month’s Daytona 24 Hours with his brother, Marino. The Scottish pair are in the final stages of negotiation to line up in one of three works Crawford Daytona Prototypes entered in the opening round of the Grand-Am Sportscar Series. The deal should be sealed in time for the Franchittis to try a Pontiac-powered Crawford DP03 in this weekend’s official pre-race test. Sportscar regular Marino said: “Dario and I have always wanted to share a car together and we got onto it last year. I’m getting on a plane to go to Daytona this week, so my fingers are crossed that our names will be on the side of a car when we get there." The Franchittis would likely team up with Dario’s Andretti Green Racing teammate Dan Wheldon and Crawford regular Milka Duno. The team’s ‘lead’ car will be driven by Andy Wallace, Tony Stewart and Jan Lammers. The two AGR drivers are set to become part of a growing roster of IRL stars to sign up to race at Daytona. Ganassi racers Scott Dixon and Darren Manning have already been confirmed in one of their team’s trio of Riley-Lexus MkXIs and now a third AGR driver, Bryan Herta, and last year’s Indy 500 winner, Buddy Rice, have announced deals to do the US enduro. Herta will make his Daytona debut in a works Pontiac-powered Doran. He will share the car with NASCAR legends Terry and Bobby Labonte and ex-Formula 1 racer Jan Magnussen. Autosport Magazine