Rocketsports Racing Denver Race Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Heather Haupt ▪ cell: (517) 927-8472 ▪ e-mail: heatherh@rocketsportsracing.com

BRAKE ISSUES END THE DAY EARLY FOR PASTORELLI IN DENVER

DENVER, Colorado (August 13, 2006) – Despite struggling to find speed over the last two days in Denver, Rocketsports Racing’s driver Nicky Pastorelli was on pace in this morning’s Warm Up Session but those positive results would not help him much in the race this afternoon as a brake issues ended the day early for the team.

During the morning session, Pastorelli posted his best time of the weekend running a 1:02.738 (95.081 mph) on his 12th lap of 20 in the thirty-minute session.   The #8 Rocketsports car seemed to be good to go and Pastorelli was ready to make his fourth start on a street-course venue on the streets of downtown Denver, Colorado.

With a first turn melee on the first lap of the Grand Prix of Denver Presented by Bridgestone, Pastorelli took advantage of the early caution and came in to the pits to fill up on fuel.  Hoping that would help him out in race strategy, he gained four spots since his start in the 16th position before brake issues became too much of a problem, ending the Italo-Dutch driver’s day on Lap 27.

“We were having issues with tires in the morning, so we were worried how they were going to hold up for us during the afternoon,” said Pastorelli.  “We started out slow at the beginning of the race but the tires were holding up better for us compared to some of the other cars.  So we were catching up and it possibly could have been a good race.  But then I was having some major issues with the brakes on the #8 Curacao/Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone, which ultimately ended our day early.”

Pastorelli posted his best time of the race with a 1:03.917 (93.327 mph) on Lap 8 and finished in the 12th spot overall.  He earns nine championship points for his efforts, which gives him a total of 53 points overall.

The team will head home to East Lansing, Michigan on Monday and begin to prepare for Round 11 of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford in Montreal in two weeks, August 25-27.
 

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