Ferrari V8 Crawford GT turned in its first official racing laps in a Grand-Am test at Homestead last month with Ferrari specialist Ed Zabinski, team owner Steve Tucker and sports car racing champion and two time Homestead-Miami winner Andy Wallace all taking turns behind the wheel.

The new Level 5 Ferrari V8 built by Crawford Technologies just might be the most exotic and innovative race car in the paddock at Homestead-Miami Speedway when its makes its debut this weekend in the second round of the Grand American Sports Car Series.

Powered by a potent Ferrari V8 in a chassis built by sports car road racing specialists Crawford Technologies from North Carolina, the Ferrari V8 Crawford GT turned in its first official racing laps during a GrandAm test at Homestead last month with Ferrari specialist Ed Zabinski, team owner Steve Tucker and sports car racing champion and two time Homestead-Miami winner Andy Wallace all taking turns behind the wheel.  Working through the usual new race car teething problems, Tucker and Zabinski believe they saw enough potential in the Ferrari to be cautiously optimistic for success in the GAINSCO Grand Prix this weekend.

"The Ferrari V8 Crawford is flat-out the best GT race car I have ever driven," Zabinski said. "Crawford Daytona Prototypes have won half of the Grand Prix of Miami races since 2004, and you can feel that success and experience in the GT Ferrari."

Other valuable experience on the 11-turn Homestead-Miami road course comes from Zabinski himself. He has raced and coached other drivers at Homestead extensively over the years and most recently guided Tucker through the season-opening round of the Ferrari Challenge at the track earlier this month. Tucker is a championship contender in that series while Zabinski is in his third year as his driving coach. Adding a schedule of seven 2008 races in the Rolex Series with the new Ferrari V8 Crawford GT made some sense this year.

"Scott is ready to move up to Grand-Am Rolex Series GT competition," said Zabinski, who also handles the technical driving development for Tucker's Ferrari Challenge team. "He did a great job in this year's Rolex 24 and I am really looking forward to finally co-driving with him in a Ferrari-powered Rolex Series race car instead of just coaching."

Yet another Florida visit this year saw Zabinski and Tucker compete in an SCCA Double National event in their Ferraris at Homestead in mid January where they both achieved a great deal of success. In the two races, Zabinski scored a first and a second in a Ferrari 360 Challenge car while Tucker took a pair of wins in his Ferrari 430 Challenge car. "As drivers, we are always looking for ways to improve our performance and increase our knowledge," Zabinski said. "SCCA club racing provides a cost effective way for us to achieve that objective. If you want to win at the professional level, you better be constantly working, testing and practicing, because that is what your competition is doing."

No team or pair of drivers has tested or raced in Florida and at Homestead-Miami Speedway more than Zabinski and Tucker this year, and they expect it to pay off. "So many things can happen in racing which are beyond your control," Zabinski said. "But we have gone to great lengths to make sure that what is within our power to plan and control, we have.  We are ready to go and I am very confident that we will be successful."