Alex Job Racing - Road America practice

Road America
practice, July 5, 2002

strong start 

Alex Job Racing paced the GT field in opening practice for Sunday's American 
Le Mans Series race at Road America, with four German drivers who are rookies 
on the four-mile road course.  Timo Bernhard was fastest in the class with a 
time of two minutes 14.114 seconds.  He shares the No. 22 McKenna Xybernaut 
Porsche with Jörg Bergmeister.  Lucas Luhr held second in class for most of 
the 90-minute session, but finished third with his time of 2:15.352 in the 
No. 23 Porsche he drives with Sascha Maassen.

"We tried a few things and the car was really good on setup," Bernhard said.  
"We still have a few things to try on the set up, but it's good.  I look 
forward to the race."  [what does it take to go fast at Road America?]  "It 
takes a better setup!"

Maassen was impressed with the track, set in picturesque Elkhart Lake, Wis.  
"It's a nice experience - a new track that is very, very quick and constantly 
changing," he said.  "You have three long straights and a lot of quick 
corners.  You have to always adapt to a new circuit and learn the corners 
first thing, and then change the car.  Here we also have a different race 
length, so we have to change our strategy, as well."

bright lights

Ken Marino, fueler for the No. 23 Porsche, glows in the dark!  Prior to the 
ALMS season opener in Sebring, Fla., he designed a light display on his 
helmet in the shape of the team initials, AJR.  He used LED lights that were 
headed for the scrap heap in the Mercedes Benz dealership where he works.  "I 
soldered them together and made an AJR so they could see me at night at 
Sebring," he said.  "It was such a big hit, I just kept it on there."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
403 287 3945
spur07@cs.com