Kenney Claims European Podium at Germany's EuroSpeedway

Sterling, July 5, 2009: Liam Kenney’s rookie European season in the ADAC Formula Masters Championship has been a rollercoaster ride but this weekend he added his maiden podium finish in Sunday’s race at Lausitzring EuroSpeedway, Sunday 5th July.

After Saturday’s self-described chaotic race a podium finish eluded the young American racing standout courtesy of an overly optimistic braking move by a rival competitor. Liam qualified third for the race and got a good launch that kept him in the fight for the lead. However, the skies opened up and the race was red flagged. After a 30-minute break to install rain tires and change set ups the race was restarted.

After another good start Liam was at the front of the field fighting for a win. With two laps to go in the extremely wet conditions one of Liam’s competitors made a move that was overly optimistic and hit the right rear corner of Liam’s car, flatting the tire, bending the suspension and ending what was likely a podium finish.

After the race Kenney tried to look at the positives; “I’ve continued to qualify well, I’ve got my starts working great and I’m running at the front of a very quick group of competitors. However, I need a little luck to go my way. I’ve been collected in more than my share of these optimistic moves that my competitors seem to want to make and it’s frustrating to be honest. As always, we will go back, look at where we can improve our performance and be back to fight again tomorrow.”

In Sunday’s round the Ma-Con Motorsports driver continued to demonstrate his outstanding racing ability, claiming his first podium of the season. Starting fifth for the race Liam got another good launch to put him in the lead fight. He was part of the freight train at the front of the field but had to drive a tactically smart race when the two cars in front of him started to battle hard for position. Liam gave them a bit of space and as predicted they took each other out of the race and Liam steered clear to avoid the incident.

Unfortunately, while this was playing out the two drivers in front opened a gap too large to close in the remaining minutes of the race to fight for a win. Kenney focused on an error-free run to the flag in the closing minutes to bring home a maiden podium finish in P3.

After the race a very jubilant Kenney commented on the drive: “I am absolutely overjoyed at my first podium in Europe. I had a great start and stayed in the lead group and finally had a bit of luck go my way as I was able to avoid the incident in front of me. It was very special today, on 4th of July weekend, because I could look into the stands and in the crowd at the podium ceremony and see people waving American flags. It was special.

“I’m also very happy for my team. We’ve worked very hard and they have given me great cars but we haven’t had the results that show how good we are. My engineer, Henry Shulze, and my coach, Gord Bentley and I have worked hard so I am hoping to build on this podium finish as we get ready for Nurburgring again. There is unfinished business there and I love the track and fans.”

Liam returns to the ADAC Formula Masters Championship competing at Germany’s famous Nurburgring Circuit, 21-23 August.