11/07/2008
NEWS STORY
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Will years of Formula One experience be enough to match the youthful and lightning-quick skills of today's F1 driver? This year's Toyota Race of Legends may help provide an answer as Toyota's Timo Glock takes a breather before the European Grand Prix to compete against a field of F1 veterans in a charity race in Monterey, California.
Glock, who is currently 13th in the Drivers' Championship, will join the legends in celebrating Toyota's history next month at the 35th annual Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, presented by Toyota, August 15 - 17, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
The eight-lap race features Derek Bell who returns to defend last year's win against an impressive line-up that includes Eddie Cheever, Johnny Herbert, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Alan Jones, Danny Sullivan, Patrick Tambay and John Watson.
Adding to the drama are Speed TV personality, Alain de Cadenet, who will provide television viewers with a cockpit-view commentary, and an amateur driver who was the high bidder among Monterey Historics participants and whose proceeds will benefit the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation. Moreover, the race winner will receive $25,000 that will be donated to his favorite charity.
The all-star field will drive identical race-equipped Scion tC sport coupes that feature a 2.4-liter, 215-horsepower TRD-supercharged engine.
In addition to the Race of Legends, Glock, the 2007 GP2 Champion, will help connect the past with the present by demonstrating the 750-plus horsepower Toyota Eagle MkIII GTP (above), which dominated the IMSA GTP series in the early '90s. Only six of these race cars were constructed, and Glock will drive chassis No. 2.
The Eagle GTPs ran off a string of 17 consecutive victories in 1992 and 1993, captured two Drivers and two Manufacturers Championships and won Daytona and Sebring.