Petersen/ White Lightning Second on GT2 Grid for ALMS at Mosport
Petersen/ White Lightning Second on GT2 Grid for ALMS at Mosport BOWMANVILLE, Ont., Can., September 3, 2005 – Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing will start second in class, 15th overall, for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Mosport American Le Mans Series (ALMS) event. It is the eighth time in eight races that No. 31 Westward Ho Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR has qualified on the front row of the GT2 class- twice the Michael Petersen-owned team has sat on the pole. Qualifying again came down to the very end as Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld, Germany) would break the timing beam just .125 of a second behind the pole winning time. Bergmeister, who shares the car with Patrick Long (Las Vegas, Nev.), turned only three laps in earning the position. It was the least amount of laps turned by any car in qualifications for the only Canadian round of the 10-race ALMS schedule. For tomorrow’s two hour and 45-minute race at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn Bowmanville, Ontario, Can. track, the Westward Ho Casino Porsche will carry the 1-800-SAL-ARMY logo in prime view of its in-car camera. The phone number, which directs people to the Salvation Army, will help viewers of the 3 PM (EDT) SPEED Channel broadcast pledge their support to victims of the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast of the United States. Petersen/ White Lightning has been a partner with the Salvation Army throughout the season hosting the various children’s groups of the charity in the markets that the team races. In further support of hurricane victims, tomorrow’s final pre-race warm-up (scheduled for 10:20 AM, Sunday) will be cut by ten minutes. That warm-up, originally scheduled for 30-minutes, will be shortened to 20-minutes to help conserve fuel in the wake of short-term fuel shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina. Today’s final practice session was also cut by 15 minutes. Live timing can be viewed at www.AmericanLeMans.com <http://www.americanlemans.com/> . Quotes… Jörg Bergmeister, driver: “I did my quickest time in the second lap and we decided to conserve tires for the race. So, it wouldn’t have made any sense to try and stay out and go quicker. In the race, I think, it doesn’t matter if you start P1 or P2 [position one or position two]. Last year was really, really tight so I think it will be a nice battle again between the [number] 23 and the 31.” Patrick Long, driver: “Tomorrow tire conservation is going to be tricky with the surface changes and all concrete on the track. I think we have done a good job and Jörg put in a great lap. We are always nipping on their heels in qualifying and that is the way we like it. But the real result up for grabs is tomorrow.” More on Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing can be found at www.PetersenMotorsports.com <http://www.petersenmotorsports.com/> . Learn more about Porsche at www.Porsche.com <http://www.porsche.com/> . ### Digital images and complete team and driver bios available upon request. Editors, please do not publish any contact information other than web sites. Thank you. contact: Tom Moore, Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing, 615-778-1614 (office), 615-509-5000 (cell), tom@darkhorsecom.com