At the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series Championship Banquet tonight in New Your City, Christian Fittipaldi was pleased to announce that he will return to the sportscar series in 2013. The Brazilian racer will prepare for his full-time ride in a Corvette Daytona Prototype with Action Express.

Fittipaldi raced with the team earlier this year for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The team finished the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in fifth. “I know a lot of the guys who work with the team and have for many, many years, and a lot of the guys I’ve also worked with in other series, so it’s very natural for me to be joining them full time,” he said.

Daytona 24 Heritage cars photoshoot: Graham Rahal and Christian Fittipaldi Photo by: Eric Gilbert

The former open-wheel star ran two full seasons in the Rolex series (2006, ’07). Fittipaldi has one Daytona 24H victory behind him, and has been a top contender for the win in the traditional season opener. He also was one of the drivers for the Coyote chassis entry, and nearly scored its first victory in Montreal four years ago.

The DP Corvette is the current chassis based off the Coyote, along with the 2012 rules implementations. Said Fittipaldi, “I remember working with the Coyote and going to Mexico City with the car and we saw the potential there.”

He is also one of the many sportscar racers who is looking forward to the Grand-Am and ALMS merger in 2014. “I’m looking forward to the same result that everyone else is--that sports car racing gets bigger and bigger and that it generates a lot more opportunities for drivers, teams, sponsors, and manufacturers,” Fittipaldi said. “Right now is an important period of time, very critical to be back in the game again. With this opportunity, I’m back in the game --so let’s get going!”

They called me and we put something together and so now it’s, ‘let’s go racing'! Christian Fittipaldi

Team owner Bob Johnson has yet to announce their full driver lineup for 2013. The team finished fourth and sixth in the Team Championship; only six points separated the #5 car with drivers Joao Barbosa and Darren Law, and the #9 Corvette with drivers Terry Borcheller and David Donohue.

Fittipaldi commented, “I ran Grand-Am on and off for a couple of years and have done Daytona six or seven times, so it was a natural thing for this opportunity to come together. They called me and we put something together and so now it’s, ‘let’s go racing!”