Press Release
Shortened Race at Virginia for Subaru Road Racing Team
- Spaude Shines in Early Laps -
Phoenixville, PA. – April 24, 2010
Hopes of a strong race result at
VIRginia International Raceway
were dashed today when the race
for the Subaru Road Racing Team
(SRRT) ended early following
contact from another car. The
on-track contact broke the right
rear tie rod, ultimately
disabled the rear differential
and occurred following a
re-start based on an earlier
yellow caution session.
SRRT drivers AJ Aquilante,
Phoenixville, Pa., and Bret
Spaude, Bushnell, Fla., were
officially credited with a 26th
place finish in this, the fourth
round of the GRAND-AM
Continental Tire Sports Car
Challenge series.
“Bret did a superb job for us
during his stint,” said SRRT
owner Joe Aquilante. “His race
laps were smooth, consistent and
incident free. His qualifying
laps were two seconds faster
than he had gone in practice and
he brought the Subaru Impreza
WRX STI to eighth place from a
14th place start in the Grand
Sports class, before we pitted
him under yellow on lap 22.
“Pitting early in the
full-course yellow laps, we
felt, would automatically slide
us very close to the front when
the race re-started, because
everybody who pitted after us
would form up behind us for the
re-start. It was a near-perfect
stop,” Aquilante added.
Only two laps into the re-start,
though, with AJ Aquilante now
driving, the Subaru was
caught-up in a three-car mishap.
“Our SRRT crew repaired a broken
right rear tie rod end, but the
time required for repairs
essentially took us out of the
race for a top five finish.
Still, the crew got the car
repaired as quickly as we could
and on track again.
Unfortunately, it turned out the
rear differential had also been
damaged in the crash, so we had
to call it a day,” said Joe
Aquilante.
James Han, motorsports marketing
manager for Subaru of America,
Inc. added, “It’s unfortunate to
come away from this race without
the finishing result that both
the team and our car were
capable of.”
The race was televised by SPEED
TV to air May 1 at 1pm ET.
The halfway point race in the
Continental Challenge season
will be May 29 at 3pm ET on the
scenic Lime Rock Park circuit
near Lakeville, Conn.
Sponsors for SRRT include Subaru
Of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica
International (STI), Subaru
Performance Tuning (SPT), Ron
Davis racing Radiators, Hawk
Brakes, freeM of America, VAC
Motorsports, Automotive Racing
Products, Rockland Standard
Gear, Quarter Master, Ecutek,
Lista, Rotary Lifts, Cusco,
Carbonetic, Hella, and Perrin.
About SRRT Phoenix LLC
SRRT Phoenix LLC represents
Subaru of America’s road racing
efforts in the 10-race Grand-Am
Continental Tire Sports Car
Challenge series and is owned
and managed by Joe Aquilante of
Phoenix Performance, LLC. The
team’s 32,000 sq. ft. facility
is in Phoenixville, Pa., 40
miles west of Philadelphia, PA.
Team drivers Andrew Aquilante
and Bret Spaude race a Subaru
Impreza WRX-STi in the Grand
Sports class.
For more information about the
team and the cars, call Joe
Aquilante at (610) 482-0141.
Fans can visit the team’s
website at
www.srrtphoenix.com and the
Phoenix Performance website at
www.phoenixperformance.net
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