Dorricott Racing - Denver Preview
LUIS DIAZ and DORRICOTT RACING LOOKING
FOR A "ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH" TYPE OF FINISH AT DENVER
DENVER, Colorado (Aug. 28, 2003) - Following a finish at Montreal
last Saturday that was caused by no fault of Dorricott Racing or Luis Diaz,
Diaz is looking for a quick rebound in this weekend's 11th round of the
12-race Toyota Atlantic Championship at the Argent Mortgage Challenge and
the Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver, Sunday, Aug. 31
The 37-lap (61.05 miles) Atlantic sprint around the nine-turn,
1.65-mile temporary downtown street circuit is scheduled to drop the green
flag at 10:30 a.m. MT. It is the featured support event for the Centrix
Financial Grand Prix of Denver CART Championship race that runs later that
day.
With two races remaining including Denver, Diaz knows he is running
short of time in making up points. Diaz only trails sixth-place Joey Hand
by 18 points, 91-73. Furthermore, Diaz is only nine points behind seventh
place Danica Patrick who has 82.
Diaz is currently tied for second place for "laps completed" with
357 recorded race laps out of a possible 366 laps. Furthermore, only
Jonathan Macri has completed more road course laps than Diaz but only by
three-laps, 296-293.
Diaz is one of only three drivers to start from the pole this
season. His pole at Monterrey, Mexico, was his third career pole position
while driving for Dorricott Racing. Only series leader A.J. Allmendinger
and Ryan Dalziel have won poles in 2003.
Round 10 at Montreal was shaping into a high potential finish. Diaz
provisionally qualified fourth around Montreal's 2.709-mile, 13-turn
permanent road course. He followed up with another strong performance in
final qualifying despite dropping a few grid positions and started the race
from seventh on the grid.
Disaster struck early in the race when Diaz was forced to make a
pit stop for a left rear tire change. His tire mysteriously lost
fifty-percent of its pressure during the first three laps. It was
discovered during a post-race investigation that the tire was improperly
mounted and the seal between tire and wheel was compromised by a small
rubber cut.
Toyota Atlantic teams do not mount their race tires to their race
wheels during a race weekend. Tire mounting and balancing is performed by
Toyota Atlantic approved and certified tire technicians that are not
affiliated with any team. Occasional human error occurs in this process
albeit mistakes are far and few between. Unfortunately for Dorricott Racing
and Diaz, an error on their part disrupted what was arguably one of the
best set cars in that Atlantic field.
Regardless, Diaz piloted the Dorricott Racing/Telmex Swift 014a to
lap times consistently among the top-seven for the race. In fact, Diaz ran
the most consistent lap-by-lap quick times among the entire field for the
final 18 laps of the race. He officially recorded the seventh fastest lap
at 1:32.255 (105.711 mph). This was a better time than his best qualifying
laps. When the checkered flag waved, Diaz had passed four cars to finish
11th place after dropping to last place during the pit stop.
Denver resurrects fond memories for Dorricott Racing as former
driver, Jon Fogarty, won the Toyota Atlantic Championship in last year's
38-lap (62.586-mile) race with a time of 51:42.928 minutes and an average
speed of 72.612 mph. Fogarty also led the most race laps with 26.
The Denver track schedule (all times eastern) for Dorricott Racing is:
Fri., Aug. 29 - Practice: 8:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Provisional Qualifying: 1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 30 - Practice: 9:15 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Final Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Sun., Aug. 31 Warm-up: 8:00 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
RACE: 10:30 a.m. (MT)
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 (the
leading candidate for 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie-of-the-Year honors),
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.
Speed Channel will provide a same-day delayed broadcast for the
Argent Mortgage Challenge on Sunday, August 31, at 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m.
PT). An encore telecast is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 5, at 2:00 p.m. ET
(10:00 a.m. PT).
Dorricott Racing is a year-round professional motorsports
organization with its race shop located in Bakersfield, Calif. Detailed
race results, team, and sponsor information are available on Dorricott
Racing's official web site, http://www.dorricottracing.com.
