{"id":1363,"date":"2010-01-09T23:48:39","date_gmt":"2010-01-10T04:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racinginfocus.com\/rif\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2012-03-17T18:27:02","modified_gmt":"2012-03-17T22:27:02","slug":"extreme-speed-motorsports-new-team-and-veteran-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/alms\/extreme-speed-motorsports-new-team-and-veteran-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Speed Motorsports – new team and veteran driver"},"content":{"rendered":"
Johannes van Overbeek, one of the world\u2019s top independent Porsche drivers, promotes the challenges and accolades that come from building and being part of a new team.\u00a0 <\/span><\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now the latest member of Extreme Speed Motorsports, van Overbeek talks about how this GT entry has and continues to prepare its two Ferrari F430 GTs to be competition-ready for the 2010 American Le Mans Series. <\/p>\n

Let’s get to the heart of your new team, Extreme Speed Motorsports. What has the team been recently doing to prepare for its first year in the American Le Mans Series?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently we are in the process of building a new team headquarters in Florida, and our team owner Scott (Sharp) has been hard at it for more than a month. I have seen a few photos and it is really going to be something amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

You have been with the Flying Lizard Motorsports team since its groundbreaking. What is it like to go through this experience with Extreme Speed Motorsports?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it is true. I was with [Flying Lizard] since the very, very beginning, so I am well aware of all the hard work that Scott and Derek (Granison) have done and need to continue to do going forward. They have done an exceptional job putting all the pieces together \u2013 with building the shop, the car and organizing a team of people.\u00a0 Most fans only see the shiny cars that go around the race track, but there is a huge amount of pieces that have to be properly put into place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Van Overbeek: “I look forward to this new\u00a0 challenge and couldn\u2019t be happier to join Extreme (Speed Motorsports).” <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, in your Series career, you have piloted Porsches and BMWs. This will be the first time in a Ferrari. Is there a lot of excitement surrounding learning a new car?<\/strong>
\n\u201cI have to say that I am going to be sad not being able to work with all the friends I\u2019ve made at Porsche in the more recent years, but I am excited to meet new friends in Ferrari. I look forward to this new challenge and couldn\u2019t be happier to join Extreme, Scott, Ed (Brown), and Guy (Cosmo), and having Patr\u00f3n a part of the project. I am excited about 2010.\u201d
\n
\nWhat about your new teammates \u2013 are you familiar yet with their driving styles and preferences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was around Scott, Ed and Guy a lot last year during the American Le Mans Series season, but haven\u2019t driven with any of them before.\u201d
\n\u00a0
\nIn 2009, you were honored with the winning of the MICHELIN\u00ae GREEN X\u00ae Challenge award, has Extreme Speed Motorsports also been showing signs of embracing the green initiatives of the Series? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt honored to win the first annual MICHELIN\u00ae GREEN X\u00ae Challenge award. At Extreme Speed Motorsports, we want to operate everything as efficiently as possible because there is a time and money component as well as the desire to be a good steward of the earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my position, I will certainly work toward being as efficient as possible while improving our impacts on the earth as much as we can and without sacrificing any performance. It\u2019s nice because the two are really linked together \u2013 there is a synergy. You can\u2019t really do one without the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will we expect to see you at Winter Test?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur team will be there. It will be a great time to fine tune our internal processes to allow us to be as competitive as we can possibly be.\u201d
\n
\nVan Overbeek also answered a couple additional personality questions for the fans:<\/em>
\n
\nWhat was your first race car and how old were you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI drove a Z-28 Camaro at 22 years old.\u201d
\n
\nWhat car do you currently drive on a daily basis? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy passenger car is a Subaru station wagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you stay in the peak physical shape? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to go longdistance cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is one thing fans might not know about you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m left handed.\u201d
\n
\nName one living person you would like to meet and why? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cChuck Yeager. I’ve always been an aviation fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is the Series personality (driver, owner, crew member) you admire the most? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDon Panoz (Founder of American Le Mans Series). Without him the Series wouldn’t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Le Mans Series will open its 12th season with America\u2019s greatest sports car race, the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida from March 17-20. The green flag will fall at 10:35 a.m. on Saturday, March 20 with live coverage on SPEED. For ticket and accommodation information, see sebringraceway.com<\/p>\n

The annual American Le Mans Series Winter Test is scheduled for February 22-23, also at Sebring International Raceway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Source ALMS<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 RIF<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannes van Overbeek, one of the world\u2019s top independent Porsche drivers, promotes the challenges and accolades that come from building and being part of a new team.\u00a0 \u00a0 Now the latest member of Extreme Speed Motorsports, van Overbeek talks about how this GT entry has and continues to prepare its two Ferrari F430 GTs to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[5264,320,5290,5289,99,5275,5291,64,279,5280,71],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15502,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions\/15502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}