Rafa Matos Takes Second in Denver Atlantic Showdown

Raphael Matos Takes Second in Denver Atlantic Showdown

Popular Brazilian Breaks into Top-Four of Points

 

DENVER, August 14, 2006 - Raphael "Rafa" Matos continued his late season
surge towards the top of the Yokohama Presents the Champ Car Atlantic
Championship powered by Mazda series standings Sunday with an impressive run
to second-place in the Grand Prix of Denver Atlantic race. As a rookie in
the Atlantic series, Denver was the latest in a long-line of circuits on
which the native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil had never competed. However, as
he has done all season, he learned the street circuit layout quickly and
positioned the No. 6 ProWorks/Sierra Sierra Enterprises Mazda in the
position to win late in the going. It was Rafa's third podium finish of the
season following a victory in San Jose, Calif. on July 30 and a second-place
at the season-opening Long Beach Grand Prix in April. The runner-up spot
moved Rafa to fourth in the Atlantic standings with two races remaining on
the 12 race schedule. The 27 points earned in Denver brings his total to
158. He has gained six positions in the last two races and currently trails
the point leader by 67 markers. 

 

"We made a lot of improvements from the first session," said Rafa. "We
completely changed the approach we had from the beginning of the week. The
car was getting better and better every session. We had to change the car to
find speed and, eventually, we found speed. We made another big step in the
warm-up and that worked pretty good again. We learned a lot and that was
very important for us. In the race, Rahal was a little faster than me on the
restarts when the tires were cold. After my tires were hot we had the exact
same lap times but he had a gap on me and I just couldn't catch him. We were
pushing really hard the whole race. I was very pleased for the Sierra Sierra
team. They did an amazing job."

 

Rafa, who now lives in Miami, Fla., started fourth on the grid after earning
the pole position in the last two Atlantic Series events. From a stationary
start, he leaped into third place at the green and immediately began
challenging for second. Near the race's midpoint, the 2005 Star Mazda Series
champion made a strong pass to take the second spot at the eighth turn of
the 1.65-mile, nine-turn street course. The time it took to gain the spot
would cost Matos a shot at his second Atlantic victory. While he pursued
leader Graham Rahal in the closing stages he would fall just 1.287 seconds
short at the lap 35 checkered flag. As evidence of his desire, Rafa turned
his quickest lap of the race, a one minute, 7.033 second time, on the 33rd
trip around the track. The time was good for third quickest race lap overall
and was just off his quickest time of the weekend.

 

Thus far in 2006, Rafa leads the category for most times led (five), is tied
for most races led (four) and is second highest in the series for most laps
led (100) trailing Rahal by eight circuits. He has set the race's fastest
lap once and has completed 333 of a possible 358 laps.  

 

The Sierra Sierra Enterprises effort now travels to Montreal, Canada on
August 25-27. It will be the first track of the season that Rafa has
previously raced on. In 2005, on his way to the Star Mazda title, Rafa won
at the 2.079-mile Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

 

"We learned a lot in Denver and we should be very strong for Road America
and Montreal," continued Rafa. "Those are the only two tracks I have been
too on the schedule before this year. We have a very good setup for high
speed tracks. We feel very confident and strong for the last races." 

 

This weekend's Grand Prix of Denver will air on the SPEED Channel at 3 PM,
August 19 with a second showing on August 23, also at 3 PM. 

 

For more on Rafa Matos, please visit www.RafaMatos.com
<http://www.rafamatos.com/> . 

To learn more about Rafa's Champ Car Atlantic Series team, Sierra Sierra,
log-on to www.SierraSierra.com <http://www.sierrasierra.com/> .

To find out more about the Champ Car Atlantic Championship, click on
www.ChampCarAtlantic.com <http://www.champcaratlantic.com/> . 

 

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Digital images and bio available upon request.

A .PDF of this release has been attached for your convenience. 

Editors, please do not publish any contact information other than web sites.
Thank you.

 

Contact: Tom Moore, Matos Motorsports, Inc.

615-778-1614 (office), 615-509-5000 (cell), tom@darkhorsecom.com