For Hometown News
Speed Weeks, Daytona Beach's annual winter celebration of racing, revs up this weekend with sports cars hitting the tri-oval at Daytona International Speedway.
The main event is the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a grueling marathon of racing starting at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, with dozens of race teams competing in Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring classes on the DIS road course.
The action starts with the Ferrari Challenge at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Jan. 25, with owners of Ferrari 458 Italias hitting the 3.56 road course for 15 laps. The Ferraris also throttle up at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will be at 1:45 p.m. Friday with racers competing in Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes.
Besides the races, the track features the Sprint Fanzone and Kidzone, carnival rides, live music, a 5K run and fun walk, a chili cook-off and the Taste of the 24 fundraiser.
For anyone who can't make it to the track, SPEED, SPEED.com and the Motor Racing Network will provide 25 hours of flag-to-flag coverage of the Rolex 24, kicking off the networks' coverage of the 12-race 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season.
SPEED's coverage begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday with a 30-minute pre-race show. SPEED signs off at 11 p.m. and SPEED.com will stream feeds throughout the night, including a rooftop camera, in-car cameras and radio calls by the Motor Racing Network. SPEED returns at 9 a.m. on Sunday, with coverage including a 30-minute post-race show following the checkered flag at 3:30 p.m.
Daytona coverage also includes the Ferrari Challenge, which airs 3-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, followed by the GRAND-AM 200 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race from 4-6 p.m.
For ticket information and more, go to daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call (800) 748-7467.