THE NEW KID; SpeedSource's Mazdas look to dethrone Porsche in grand-am.(Fan Guide)

Byline: TRAVIS BRAUN

Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype category is the series' premier class, but the Grand Touring division might be more relevant to the "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday'' crowd. When Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Pontiac, BMW, Porsche and Mazda slug it out, the bragging rights carry over more to enthusiasts on the street.

In January's 24 Hours of Daytona, the Mazda RX-8 fielded by SpeedSource qualified on the pole, led 323 laps and never lost the top spot for the race's final seven hours. If fans didn't notice the No. 70 Mazda, Porsche sure did. No manufacturer had prevented Porsche from winning at Daytona since 1993.

"The diversity of the brands is what attracts fans to this championship,'' SpeedSource owner and driver Sylvain Tremblay said. "In all the years I've been racing, this GT field is by far the stiffest, strongest field I've ever seen in any GT racing anywhere in the world.''

Tremblay started SpeedSource, a racing-prep shop in Florida, in 1995 and aligned himself with Mazda. SpeedSource built more than 50 Mazda RX-7s for club racing, where Tremblay began driving.

In 2001, the team began its Grand-Am involvement in the Koni Challenge Series. Three championships later, Tremblay took the step-or the leap of faith-into the top-tier Rolex Series in 2006.

"When I first talked about getting a Mazda to run against the Porsches, it seemed like a joke,'' Tremblay said. (Twenty-five Porsches were entered in this year's 24 Hours.) "There was so much that had to happen, so many pieces we had to ...