Pontiac unveil 2003 challenger.

Further strengthening its commitment to remaining a serious competitor in Winston Cup racing, Pontiac today took the wraps off its new 2003 Grand Prix NASCAR racecar prior to this weekend's Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.

NASCAR recently approved the design of the new Pontiac, which will make its racing debut at the 2003 Daytona 500 in February.

"The excitement level surrounding NASCAR and Winston Cup racing just keeps getting higher and higher, and Pontiac intends to be right in the middle of it," said Pontiac-GMC General Manager Lynn Myers. "This new race car is additional proof that we are committed to supplying the necessary resources for our Pontiac teams to compete for the championship."

"NASCAR will continue to be a vital part of telling Pontiac's performance message, both on and off the track," said Bob Kraut, marketing director for the Grand Prix. "The popularity of the sport and capabilities of this new race car should transfer directly to excitement for the new 2004 Grand Prix, and the other high-performance vehicles Pontiac will be introducing in the near future."

Pontiac's new race design is the culmination of many months of work and cooperation between Pontiac racing engineers, NASCAR staff and members of the teams that will be racing the new cars. That type of input is important to crew chief James Ince of MBV Motorsports, which fields the No. 10 Valvoline car unveiled this week.

"We've been working on this race car for over a year now and it's a great feeling to be able to show it to the rest of the world today," said Ince. "For us, the new Grand Prix is something to look forward to. We know that we are going to have to work extremely hard to get the new car ready, but it's also going to be something that gives us the opportunity to go and win races and that's the business we're in."