Italian race car builder Picchio, which continues to retain the prized status of “Official Daytona Prototype Constructor”, and the famous Rafanelli team have just concluded an agreement to take part together in the 2005 Grand American Sportscar Series.

Their new 'Daytona Prototype', which is scheduled to hit the track this year, is an evolution of their Daytona Prototype DP2, onto which project several changes and improvements have been made by their engineering team.

Picchio, based near the town of Teramo in Central Italy are currently appraising several different engine options and have not discounted introducing a new powerplant from the official list approved by GrandAm, possibly one that has not as yet been seen on the racetracks.

Speculation suggests that this will be the as yet un-raced Maserati unit, which a number of teams have recently seriously considered using. Picchio have already undertaken testing with this engine.

Top Italian pilots will be favourites for driving duties, mainly because the test and development program will be undertaken in Italy.

By travelling down this route, it is hoped that the vast race experience of Rafanelli’s technicians, mixed together with Picchio’s engineering and design resources, will allow the new chassis' to be turned into genuinely competitive GrandAm machines.

Picchio say that the new cars will differ in many ways from the existing chassis's, now located in America. Picchio doesn't recognize these as their own work since they were actually assembled in the United States by G&W.
 

However, the third 'Daytona Protoype' of the series, has been entirely assembled in their factory, and more than seventy changes, from minor to major, have been realized on this prototype, in comparison to the others already built. The front aerodynamics, the air intakes and the airbox are all totally new. Picchio also provides power steering as a basic feature and the kinematic behaviour of suspensions has been revised and optimized to adapt them to the new Hoosier tyres, which recently replaced Goodyear for Grand-Am competition.

For their part, Risi Competizione have been casting around for a new US-centred race project after bringing to an end their multi-year American Le Mans Series participation with their distinctive, self-developed, Olive Garden-liveried, GTS class Ferrari 550 Maranello, at the close of the 2003 season.

Last year Risi discussed at great length the possibility of running a brace of the Prodrive-developed, Care-funded, Ferrari 550 Maranellos, that have so dominated sportscar proceedings in Europe for the last couple of years. However these protracted negotiations eventually floundered over finances.

With the Grand American Rolex Sportscar Series now going through a huge resurgence, thanks mainly to the massive popularity of its new low-cost 'Daytona Prototype' class, making the switch from ALMS to GrandAm is one that a number of top-line teams, as well as Risi, are currently making.