April 29, 2012
The 3rd round of the 2012 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Cars Series, the Grand Prix of Miami, took place at SpeedSource's backyard track, Homestead-Miami Speedway. A rainstorm that seemed to go on forever deluged the area over the weekend. Starting on Friday night, it didn't cease until after the race had finished on Sunday.

The SpeedSource team is no stranger to Florida’s thunderstorms. After practicing on and off in the rain, they strategically prepared the #70 Castrol Edge Modspace Mazda RX-8 for the conditions expected at Homestead. On Saturday, qualifying was canceled due to inches of water pooling on the track. GRAND-AM announced that teams would thus start the race according to their ranking in the point standings. This meant that SpeedSource would start in 2nd place, on the front row.

Sunday’s weather was no surprise to the team. With non-stop rain, the race started under a full course caution. Things became increasingly difficult as the race progressed and water accumulated on the track. All teams had to endure the treacherous conditions as visibility was virtually non-existent due to the heavy spray of mist. After leading in GT, the #70 Castrol Edge Modspace Mazda RX-8 elected to pit under caution for fresh rain tires and a splash of fuel. This would allow the team to reach the scheduled race end with the newest tires and a full tank of Sunoco race fuel. However, this cycled the car back to the rear of the pack.

The Grand Prix of Miami was without a doubt a race against Mother Nature. The race was red flagged with an hour left and GRAND-AM ended the race 50 minutes early due to rain. This was unexpected and prevented the team from regaining their earlier position. The #70 Castrol Edge Modspace Mazda RX-8 thus ended the race 12th in the GT class.

On the other hand, the timing of Team Sahlen’s pit stop was fortunate. Just before the premature ending of the race, the #42 Team Sahlen RX-8 GT, with drivers Wayne Nonnamaker and Dane Cameron, was called in to the pit by Team Sahlen. This allowed the car to jump from 10th to 2nd place. It also secured the #42 machine a 2nd-place finish in the race.