Dorricott Racing - Cleveland Preview
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: James Hyneman
jhyneman@compuserve.com
DORRICOTT RACING IS SPENDING JULY 4TH IN CLEVELAND
FOR ROUND SIX OF THE TOYOTA ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP
CLEVELAND, Ohio (July 2, 2003) - The second half of the 2003 Toyota
Atlantic Championship is shaping into a multi-car, multi-team championship
with Dorricott Racing still within reach of a second consecutive Atlantic
Championship. Next stop is the Argent Mortgage Toyota Atlantic 100k this
Sunday, July 5, and it promises to be a wide-open, hard-charging type of
race.
The 32-lap (67.392 mile) Atlantic sprint around the 2.106-mile,
10-turn temporary airport runway road circuit at Burke Lakefront Airport is
round six of the 12-race series. It is scheduled to drop the green flag at
5:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday's race will be the sixth time since 1998 that Atlantic has
competed at Burke Lakefront Airport, and is the featured support event for
the CART U.S. Bank Presents the Cleveland Grand Prix that will run on
Sunday. Atlantic did not race in Cleveland in 1999.
Luis Diaz, of Mexico City, brings a podium familiarity with him to
Cleveland. His third place finish last year in his inaugural Cleveland
visit tags him as the highest-finishing driver from last year's race. Diaz,
who qualified fourth, battled with Michael Valiante for third place
throughout the race with Diaz taking the position for good on Lap 20. Diaz
was joined on the podium by 2002 teammate and Atlantic Champion Jon
Fogarty.
Teammate Kyle Krisiloff, of Indianapolis, Ind., is also making his
second Atlantic appearance at Cleveland. In his second career Atlantic race
start last year at Cleveland, he finish 15th.
Dorricott Racing has a history of success over the bumpy airport
circuit. It also raced in Cleveland in 1999 with the Dayton Indy Lights
Championship and drivers Oriol Servia (Patrick Racing), Philipp Peter, and
Casey Mears. Servia demonstrated why he would eventually become the 1999
Dayton Indy Lights Champion when he smoothly qualified on the outside pole
and then finished second place. Peter showed his incredible road racing
prowess by finishing fourth place after qualifying an uncharacteristic
ninth. Mears started seventh and finished eighth place. In 1998, Servia
qualified second and finished sixth place.
A.J. Allmendinger leads the Atlantic Championship with 79 points.
Ryan Dalziel is close behind with 73 points. Diaz is back but not out of
the title hunt in ninth place with 37 points. Krisiloff is 10th with 36
points.
Schedule: Thurs. July 3 Practice 2:15 - 2:45
p.m. (all times ET)
Provisional Qualifying 6:40 - 7:20 p.m.
Fri. July 4 Practice 1:15 - 1:45
p.m.
Final Qualifying 4:45 - 5:25 p.m.
Sat. July 5 Warm-up 2:00 - 2:15 p.m.
RACE 5:30 p.m.
Speed Channel will provide a one-day delayed telecast of the Toyota
Atlantic Championship race from Cleveland on Sunday, July 6 at 1:00 p.m. ET
(11:00 a.m. PT). An encore telecast is scheduled for Monday, July 7, at
1:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT).
Dorricott Racing alumni have succeeded worldwide in open-wheel
racing and other highly regarded motorsports series. Former drivers include
current CART Champ Car star Oriol Servia (Patrick Racing), Casey Mears
(NASCAR Winston Cup), Townsend Bell (F3000), Jason Bright (Australian V8
Supercar), Robbie Buhl (IRL), 2002 Toyota Atlantic Champion Jon Fogarty,
Luiz Garcia Jr., Shigeaki Hattori, Sports Car standout Philipp Peter,
Damien Faulkner, Alex Gurney, Bob Dorricott Jr., and IRL driver and former
Motocross champion Jeff Ward.
The 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship is the 14th year that
Dorricott Racing has fielded an open-wheel racing team. Besides claiming
runner-up honors in the 2000 Dayton Indy Lights Championship, Dorricott
Racing won the 1999 and 2001 Dayton Indy Lights Championship and the 2002
Toyota Atlantic Championship.
Detailed race results, team, and sponsor information are available
on Dorricott Racing's official web site, http://www.dorricottracing.com.
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