The Picchio DP2 is a first-generation

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand-Am Road Racing, Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype rac ...

race car Race, RACE or The Race may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

, designed, developed and built by Italian manufacturer Picchio, for the

Grand-Am Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. I ...

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

, in 2003. It was powered by a

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

V8 engine. A total of three cars were built. An evolution to this car named the DP3, entered development in 2005, with the aim to enter the

2005 Le Mans Series 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

. Upgrades to the suspension, gearbox and overall durability were planned however, this never came to fruition and the car never raced.

Competition history

2003

G&W Motorsports would be the first team to campaign the car in the new rule set. In its debut race at the

2003 24 Hours of Daytona The 2003 Rolex 24 at Daytona was a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series 24-hour endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, forbearance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness, perseverance, sta ...

, the car would suffer mechanical gremlins and would finish third in class and 24th overall. It would continue to produce modest results throughout the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

but would achieve its highest finish of its racing career at the VIR 400 with third-place finish in class and overall.

Darren Law Darren Law (born April 4, 1968) is an American racing driver. Law started racing at the age of 10 in go-karts in 1978. At age 14 Law was the International Kart Federation national champion, and shortly thereafter began racing cars in various ama ...

was the highest points finisher for the DP2 with a final position of sixth in the drivers standings. In the chassis championship, the car finished third out of four constructors but was last of the full-time runners. G&W Motorsports finished fourth in the teams standings, also last of full-time entrants.

2004–2006

G&W Motorsports would again run the car in the 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series but would only appear in four races with a best finish of seventh in class and 25th overall at the 2004 24 Hours of Daytona. In 2005, G&W Motorpsorts rebranded their team to become Synergy Racing and ran the car at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

but ran into gearbox problems and finished 60th overall. The car was on the entry lists for four more races but did not appear in any sessions. It would contend in one final race at the penultimate round of the 2005 Rolex Sports Car Series at

VIR Vir or VIR may refer to: Places * Vir (island), an island on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea * Vir (municipality), the settlement on the Croatian island * Vir, Posušje, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Vír, a municipality and village ...

in the hands of ADI Motorsports finishing 40th overall. In 2006, there were plans for at least one car to be on the grid for the first race of the season at

Daytona Daytona may refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach, Florida * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach Motor racing * Dayto ...

but, the team withdrew before the race. ADI Motorsports continued to run the car in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and contested in three races. In those three races they compiled a best finish of 37th and two retirements. After the VIR round the car did not appear in any more races.

References

{{Reflist Sports prototypes Cars introduced in 2003