PASTORELLI IS SIDE-LINED AS ROCKETSPORTS RACING HEADS TO TORONTO AND CONFIRMS ONLY A ONE-CAR ENTRY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Heather Haupt ▪ cell: (517) 927-8472 ▪ e-mail: heatherh@rocketsportsracing.com mailto:heatherh@rocketsportsracing.comPASTORELLI IS SIDE-LINED AS ROCKETSPORTS RACING HEADS TO TORONTO AND CONFIRMS ONLY A ONE-CAR ENTRYEAST LANSING, Michigan (July 5, 2006) – It was determined today that Rocketsports Racing driver of the #8 Bavaria City Racing/Rocketsports Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone Nicky Pastorelli will not be racing with teammate Tonis Kasemets this weekend in Toronto for Round Seven of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season.“Contractual difficulties will keep Nicky out of the car this weekend due to a default from one of his sponsors,” stated Rocketsports Team Owner Paul Gentilozzi on Pastorelli’s situation.  “He is working hard to remedy the situation and we hope to have him back in the future once the problem is solved.”“The #8 Rocketsports team will be there, along with the car, but there was just not enough time to find an adequate substitute to drive the #8 car this weekend in the streets of Toronto,” said Gentilozzi in regards to fielding only one car this weekend with Kasemets in the #18 Rocketsports car.  Kasemets heads to Toronto with track experience, but not Champ Car-driving experience on a street-course layout.  The 11-turn course will not be an issue for the Estonian to navigate through as he participated last year in the Toronto event while running in the Toyota Atlantic Championship.  He qualified fifth and earned a top-ten finish when he rolled past the start/finish line in the eighth spot.What will be new to him is running in the #18 Flexovit Abrasives/Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone on a street course.  He signed to run in six events with the Rocketsports team this season, five of those are road course circuits, so this weekend will mark the only street course track that Kasemets is scheduled to run on in a Champ Car during his rookie-debut season.“I am looking forward to a new experience,” stated Kasemets about the upcoming weekend.  “This will be the first time that I take the #18 Flexovit Abrasives/Rocketsports Champ Car out onto the street, so it will be something different and a new challenge that I am excited about.  We will continue working on the car and I will continue to work on my driving.  I hope that it is a lot of fun and that we have some good results.”The Molson Grand Prix of Toronto is the first of three races on Canadian soil on the 2006 Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford schedule.  Rocketsports finished both cars last year in the top ten, with Ryan Hunter-Reay finishing sixth and Timo Glock trailing behind in the seventh spot after starting 17th and 14th on the grid respectively.  The team is capable of producing solid and reliable racecars here in Toronto, so they will look to improve their end results from last year and their overall best finish of sixth in Toronto.  Qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. local time, which will determine the starting lineup for Sunday’s event.  The Molson Grand Prix of Toronto will take the green flag at 12:30 p.m. and can be seen live on CBS Sports with coverage beginning immediately at 12:30 p.m. EST. 
 

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