Petersen/ White Lightning Working to Break-Away from Porsche Pack at Lime Rock

Petersen/ White Lightning Working to Break-Away from Porsche Pack at
Lime Rock

 

LAS VEGAS, Nev., July 1, 2004 - As it enters Monday's third-round of the
2004 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) championship at Lime Rock Park,
Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing has successfully started
off its first serious pursuit of the ALMS GT class driver, team and
manufacturers' championships. The Michael Petersen-owned team has
finished third in both the 12 Hours of Sebring in March and the American
Le Mans at Mid-Ohio last Sunday. Coupled with the GT class victory in
this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, the No. 31 Westward Ho Casino/ MMPIE/
PAWS/ Michelin Porsche is off to its best start since entering
professional sports car racing from its roots in off-road truck
competition. The performance of the Dale White-managed team has given
the 2003 Road America 500 GT winners a share of the top spot for the
2004 IMSA Cup- awarded to the highest finishing privateer team in each
ALMS class- with fellow Porsche team, Flying Lizard. Drivers David Murry
(Cumming, Ga.) and Craig Stanton (Long Beach, Calif.) currently sit only
ten points out of the lead, and four out of second, in the GT driver
championship with 32 markers. 

 

The two hour and 45 minute Grand Prix of New England from Lime Rock Park
in Lakeville, Conn. will take the green flag at 3 pm (EDT) on Monday,
July 5th. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED. 

 

Dale White, team manager: "This stretch of races has been, and will
continue to be, a pretty good test of our team. This is the first ALMS
back-to-back race weekend but we've been non-stop since before Sebring.
Even after this we go straight to Sonoma and then to Portland. The
Petersen/ White Lightning crew has done a terrific job and we're anxious
to get to Lime Rock to break this third-place rut we seem to be in.
We're looking to move back to the stop step like at Le Mans."

 

David Murry: "I'm really proud of how the Petersen/ White Lightning team
came together at Mid-Ohio. We didn't have any time testing the car and
Le Mans is such a different track we can't translate much of that here.
The other teams have done months of testing and ran Sebring with the car
[Petersen/ White Lightning ran the 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 RS not the 2004
RSR]. To get it together that quickly and to be that close to the other
teams I am pretty happy with it. I think we'll have a better shot at
Lime Rock and then a lot better shot after Lime Rock.  I'm really
looking forward to this weekend."

 

Craig Stanton: "Last time I was at Lime Rock I won the pole in a Porsche
911 so I am anxious to get back there. I have a lot of experience
driving on short tracks in stock cars and midgets, so I think I am going
to be pretty uniquely qualified to race at Lime Rock. The track is short
and really tight. It is going to be a fight to the finish just to
survive. It's going to be a really, really aggressive race, especially
for the GT class just to not get punted off the track by the prototypes.
The guy that can keep his head in this one will be the guy that comes
out on top. The Petersen/ White Lightning Porsche really made some big
gains while we were at Mid-Ohio so David and I are eager to get back in
the car and keep our momentum going in Connecticut."