2009 Atlantic series champion John Edwards will team with 2009 Star Mazda Championship winner Adam Christodoulou in a SpeedSource-prepared Mazda RX-8 in the Grand-Am GT class, starting next weekend at Homestead. This will be the first time either young driver has raced a Grand-Am GT car, and is the start of a full-season program where the two will hone their skills in an unfamiliar form of racing, with the intention of helping Mazda win the 2010 Grand-Am GT class manufacturers' championship. The two MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder drivers follow fellow Atlantic grad Jonathan Bomarito into Mazda's Grand-Am program. Their RX-8 will be entered by SpeedSource/Newman Wachs Racing.
Edwards won the 2009 Cooper Tires presents the Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda title with NWR, and the car will carry sponsorship from Entergy and the Nuclear Energy Industry.
SpeedSource's Castrol Syntec-sponsored RX-8 won the GT class at the 2008 and 2010 runnings of the Rolex-24 at Daytona.