Petersen/White Lightning Doesn't Second Guess Le Mans Decision

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Le Mans History Is Strong, But Forgoing '07 Was Right Choice




Lime Rock, ALMS Championship, Return to Le Mans in '08 Prevail

PAHRUMP, Nev., June 14, 2007 - For the first time since 2003 Petersen 
Motorsports/White Lightning Racing isn't spending the 
day preparing for the final practice and qualifying 
session at the 24 Heures du Mans. Instead, the two-
time LM GT, now LM GT2, class winners at the 
prestigious French race are readying for the next 
American Le Mans Series event, to be held at Lime 
Rock Park, in early July. Team owner Michael 
Petersen (Las Vegas, Nev., USA) and team 
manager/entrant Dale White (Bozeman, MT., USA) 
made the decision to forgo the team's invitation to the 
24 Hours of Le Mans on April 11. Since that time, 
neither Petersen nor White has had a second thought 
about the decision. Their focus is now clearly on 
Round Six of the American Le Mans Series season at 
Lime Rock and capturing the GT2 championship with 
the No. 31 MMPIE/PAWS/Petersen Holdings/Michelin 
Ferrari F430 GT. Nonetheless, the team has every 
intention of being back at the Circuit de la Sarthe this 
time next year.

Never far from anyone's mind is the intense 
competition of the GT2 class and how to gain an 
edge. The 10-time American Le Mans Series race 
winners, including the most recent round in Salt Lake 
City, have not been letting the last three weeks go to 
waste. Midway through the "Le Mans Break" team 
members have been focused on preparing the No. 31 
Ferrari F430 GT for the remainder of the season. Shop 
work, equipment repair and general car maintenance 
are on the job list. Final pre-race preparations for the 
American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix will take 
place the last two weeks of June. The team will arrive 
in Connecticut on July 4 for the July 7 event.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing is not 
without representation in France however. Team 
drivers Tomas Enge (a native of the Czech Republic 
now living in Monaco) and Darren Turner (Leamington 
Spa, Warwickshire, England) will be teammates, 
albeit in separate cars, for Aston Martin Racing in the 
LM GT1 class this weekend at Le Mans. Enge is 
attempting to extend his record pole position streak to 
six consecutive fastest laps. He has earned the pole 
every time he has raced at Le Mans. He won the event 
in 2003 driving a Ferrari in the GTS, now known as 
GT1, class.

The team's Le Mans success was found quickly. In 
2003, Petersen and White teamed with Alex Job 
Racing to take a convincing pole position and victory at 
La Sarthe. In 2004, the team took on the daunting 
circuit on their own and repeated the results. An 
accident in qualifying put a three-peat in jeopardy but 
an amazing rebuild allowed the Nevada-based team 
to return with a second-place in '05. Three top-two 
finishes in three years was an impressive debut for 
the small, tight-knit American team. Coming off their 
first American Le Mans Series Driver, Team and IMSA 
Cup Championship in 2005, they took on another 
partner for 2006. However, a mid-race accident would 
relegate it to a disappointing 11th in class- the worst 
class finishing position the team has ever endured in 
American Le Mans Series or Le Mans competition. 
2007 was intended to be the team's return, this time 
with the Ferrari F430 GT. However, an accident at St. 
Petersburg in March and the loss of a sponsor just 
days before the Le Mans deadline forced the team to 
sit out this year's event. Petersen and White opted 
instead to focus on the American Le Mans Series.

As an endurance team, Petersen Motorsports/White 
Lightning Racing has relished competing at the 
world's premier long distance events like Le Mans. 
Beyond the two victories at Le Mans, the team has 
won the Petit Le Mans twice ('05, '06), the 12 Hours of 
Sebring ('05), the Monterey Sports Car Championship 
('05), the 24 Hours At Daytona ('01) and the Six Hours 
of the Glen ('98) in their class. Not to be restricted to 
sports car racing, the pairing has also taken home 
three consecutive Baja 500 and Baja 1000 overall 
titles ('95-'97) and this year finished as the second-
highest privateer entrant at the world's most 
dangerous and challenging motorsports event, the 
Euromilhões Dakar 2007. In late May they announced 
their intentions to return to Dakar with their own 
custom-built buggy in 2008 and 2009.

Quotes

Dale White, Team Manager/Entrant:

About Missing Le Mans: "It has definitely been a 
different May and June for us. Of course we miss not 
being at Le Mans, especially this week, but I haven't 
doubted for a second we made the right choice. With 
everything that happened since Sebring, plus losing 
the sponsor for Le Mans at the last minute, the team 
needed this month off. We have used the momentum 
from the win in Salt Lake City to maintain our focus for 
Lime Rock and the rest of the season. Usually I would 
be worried about missing all the laps that our 
competition is now getting at Le Mans but the team is 
so focused, so in-tune with the Ferrari F430 GT that I 
am not worried. I think the break is our biggest asset 
right now. Some of these guys, including Mike and 
myself, have been going since Laguna Seca last year. 
We had Dakar, we had the building of two F430 GTs, 
we had the struggles at Sebring, the accident at St. 
Pete, the changes at Long Beach and Houston. We 
have been gaining on it and now we can walk into 
Lime Rock really refreshed. There won't be any 
worries of having to build an entire car in paddock like 
we had to do last year when we get there."

What has the team been doing since Salt Lake 
City?: "We have been doing a lot of the little things 
that you always want to do and don't usually have time 
for. We've been doing things around the shop, to the 
trailer, detail items on the car and the equipment. Most 
importantly, the guys haven't had to be working 14-15 
hour days like we have been. They have been able to 
spend time with their families. We have guys going to 
Le Mans as spectators; one of the crew is in the 
Philippines with the family of his new wife. So, we 
have been using the time really well both at the shop 
and away. We'll start the serious pre-Lime Rock prep 
work at the end of June and be relaxed and ready to 
go for another Lime Rock win in July."

Will he watch Le Mans on SPEED Channel?: 
"Saturday and Sunday I am confident to say the 
whole team is going to be watching at least some of 
the race. We have Tomas and Darren racing with the 
Aston in GT1 and you want to cheer them on. So, I'll 
definitely watch some of it but I won't promise you I'll 
be up for 24 straight hours like I have been the last 
four years."

About Future Le Mans Plans: "My only regret of 
missing Le Mans this year is not being able to 
represent Ferrari there. We have every intention of 
doing that in 2008."

More on Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning 
Racing can be found at www.PetersenMotorsports.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=5ddodbcab.0.sif7q7bab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0252&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.PetersenMotorsports.comtarget%3D_blank)

To learn more about Ferrari's road cars as well as 
their remarkable motorsports history, please visit www.FerrariWorld.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=5ddodbcab.0.z5ipx5bab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0252&p=http%3A%2F%2F).

For more on the ALMS, please visit www.AmericanLeMans.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=5ddodbcab.0.986o49bab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0252&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.AmericanLeMans.com)

Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=5ddodbcab.0.ijy7bzbab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0252&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.PetersenMotorsports.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing
Tom Moore
Sporting Relations Manager

email: tom@petersenmotorsports.com
office: 615-778-1614 cellular: 615-509-5000

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Digital images and complete team and bios available 
upon request.


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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