Multimatic MDP1
The Multimatic MDP1 (also referred to as the Multimatic Ford Focus[3]) is a first-generation Daytona Prototype race car, designed, developed and built by American manufacturer Multimatic, for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, in 2003. It was powered by a Robert-Yates Racing Ford V8 engine.[4] A total of four cars were built.[5][6][7][8] The chassis would form the basis of the second-generation Daytona Prototype, Proto-Auto Lola B08/70.[9][10] Competition history2003The car made its debut in the hands of the factory team, Multimatic Motorsports, and achieved a class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona albeit fourth overall. This would be the highest result for the car throughout its career. SpeedSource would campaign a car for the final four rounds of the season with a best finish of seventh overall at the VIR 400. Essex Racing, who also ordered a car, finished 29th overall at the final race of the season.[11] 2004At the opening race at Daytona, four chassis were entered with two each from SpeedSource and Essex Racing. All four cars would run into mechanical issues and eventually retired from the race.[12] They would continue to run the car and found modest success. Essex Racing finished in the overall top ten a total of three times while SpeedSource had its highest finish of 11th at the first race at Homestead.[13] 2005–2007A factory run entry by Multimatic at the 2005 24 Hours of Daytona saw the #49 driven by NASCAR drivers Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle. The car would run into mechanical problems for a second year in a row at Daytona when Biffle stopped on track with less than an hour to go.[14][15] Blackforest Motorsports also retired from the race due to damage from an accident.[14] The car did not appear in any other races for 2005, with the chassis at a significant aero disadvantage especially when compared to the dominant Riley MKXI. Grand-Am allowed Multimatic to make changes to make the chassis more competitive.[16] Despite this, no team would run the MDP1 in 2006. In 2007, Multimatic would run the car in its final race at the Montreal 400k with drivers Scott Maxwell and Gunnar Jeanette. They would be classified 35th but, retired from the race. The reason for the entry was due to Grand-Am rules where Proto-Auto (association between Lola and Krohn Racing) bought the constructor's license from Multimatic. That partnership led to the Proto-Auto Lola B08/70.[17][9] References
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