Orbit Racing - Watkins Glen race podium

lucky Fathers' Day

Orbit Racing shook off the bad luck of the last few races and returned to the 
podium in the Rolex Sports Car Series, finishing third in the GT class on the 
3.4-mile Watkins Glen International road course. It was a fitting Fathers' 
Day gift for Joe Policastro, who drives the No. 44 Classic Industries Porsche 
911 GT3 RS with his son Jay. They and the team's third driver, Mike Fitzgerald, 
wore the Rolex watches they were awarded for their class win at the Rolex 24 
of Daytona - the first time all three have worn the watches during a race.

Fitzgerald started the six-hour race from seventh place on the GT grid. He 
took the lead on the first lap before the first of 10 caution periods that 
slowed the race, but was relegated to second place on the restart. Jay Policastro 
took over after 44 minutes and regained second place before pitting at the 
two-hour mark. Joe Policastro also held second through his stint. Fitzgerald 
started a double stint at 2h13, lost two positions when he pitted for a tire 
problem, then moved back up to third. Jay Policastro started his second stint at 
3h49 and Fitzgerald took the final stint at 4h54, finishing third.

Mike Fitzgerald

"That was a lot of fun! I'm glad we finally got back to the podium because we 
deserved to be up here a little sooner than this. We had some tough 
circumstances [during the race week] because of the limited practice time and funny 
weather, but everybody pulled together and got the car running great. Jay's last 
stint pretty much blew them off so I didn't have to do much except drive 
around at the end, which was nice. I'm going to be wearing my Rolex to the rest of 
the races because I think that's good luck!"

Jay Policastro

"It turned out pretty well. We had a couple of miscalculations - I had a tire 
go down and Mike had a bad set of tires - but other than that, it went okay. 
It would have been nice to get up there and race for second. I don't know if 
we had anything for them but it would have been a good race. But we'll take 
third and head off to Daytona [for the next race]."

Joe Policastro

"I agree with Mike; I think the Rolex was good luck. It's been awhile since 
we've been on the podium, but Jay and Mike and the crew did an outstanding job. 
It was a little precarious at times in practice because of the rain, but the 
crew did an outstanding, fantastic job keeping us in there. It was a great 
Fathers' Day gift to have my wife and our family here, and to finish third with 
my son is just icing on the cake."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945