Carpentier to make his 2006 Racing debut with Cheever Racing at the Rolex 24

Montreal (January 25, 2006) - Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier will 
make his 2006 racing debut this weekend with Cheever Racing at the 
Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Canadian driver joined Cheever Racing last 
December to drive in the opening round of the 2006 Grand Am Rolex 
Series at Daytona. Carpentier will share the No. 39 Cheever Racing 
Lexus Crawford with team owner Eddie Cheever Jr. and Brazilian 
Christian Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi made the transition to Grand Am a 
few years ago following a career in Formula One and Champ Car. As for 
Cheever, he also raced in Formula One, Champ Car and IRL before 
becoming a team owner in both IRL and the Rolex Grand Am Series.
  "I like this type of car," said Patrick who drove for Cheever 
Racing's IndyCar Series team in 2005. "There are still a lot things 
for me to learn about the car, but a 24-hour race is almost half a 
season of single-seater racing. We are only one of two teams to run 
the Crawford chassis with a Lexus engine, so there are still things 
to improve before the car becomes very competitive. Lexus has worked 
extensively on the engine package to give us more top-end speed, 
something we lacked during our last test session in early January. We 
want to be competitive and win this race, but this is a 24-hour race. 
Anything can happen."
"Official testing begins Thursday morning and Christian (Fittipaldi) 
should qualify the car during the afternoon only session. Eddie 
(Cheever) knows that Christian has the most experience with this type 
of cars and he is the most qualified to do the work."
Carpentier will add a new chapter to his racing history by 
participating in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, North America's premier 
endurance race. Carpentier will be testing the 3.56-mile Daytona 
International Raceway road circuit for the third time on Thursday.
The 44th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is run Jan. 26-29 at 
Daytona International Raceway. Drivers will be on track on Thursday 
morning for two sessions. Qualifying for the Daytona 24 Hours will 
start Thursday at 3:45 p.m. A news bulletin will follow qualifying.
The green flag for the Rolex 24 at Daytona will be waved at noon on 
Saturday January 28.