Past Petit Le Mans Success Inspires Petersen
Motorsports/White Lightning Racing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Past Petit Le Mans
Success Inspires
Petersen Motorsports/
White Lightning Racing
Significance of 10th Petit Not Lost on Dumbreck, Luhr and Müller
BRASELTON, Ga., September 28, 2007 - Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing knows
the significance of the Petit Le Mans. The Michael
Petersen (Las Vegas, Nev.) owned team is the two-
time defending GT2 Champion of the 10 hour or 1,000
mile race around Road Atlanta. The October 6 race
carries international importance as one of the majors
of sports car racing alongside more veteran events
like the 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours At Daytona, 24
Hours of Nürburgring and the greatest of all, the 24
Hours of Le Mans. A victory guarantees not only an
invitation to next year's Le Mans race but the right to
add your name to the elite in sports car racing history.
However, the weight of the event to the world is
magnified ten-fold for the team behind the No. 31
MMPIE/PAWS/Petersen Holdings/Michelin Ferrari
F430 GT. To the Dale White (Bozeman, MT) managed
program a victory would be a sign that the team is
back in full stride after a season of starts and stops;
that it has returned fulltime to the top of the GT2 ranks.
The history of the team's success and a desire to win
is the inspiration to the organization entering the
penultimate race on the American Le Mans Series
schedule.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Team drivers Peter Dumbreck (born in Scotland but
living in Adderbury, England), Lucas Luhr (born in
Koblenz, Germany but now living in Ermatingen,
Switzerland) and Dirk Müller (a native of Germany now
living in Monaco) all recognize the importance of the
event to the team, to motorsports and to themselves.
Luhr, who will be making his first Series start of the
year at Petit, has taken the most green flags at Road
Atlanta of the driver lineup with six starts. In that time
he has claimed a GT2, then known as GT class,
victory in 2002. He earned the LMP2 pole position
here last year on his way to a podium finish. Müller
also has one GT2 victory at Petit Le Mans, earned in
the race's second running in 1999. He has started the
race on Road Atlanta's 2.54-mile, 12 turn track three
times with the most recent coming in 2001. While
Dumbreck will be making his first start at Road
Atlanta, as a student of the sport, he is keenly aware of
the race's prestige and place in the history books.
The team will be celebrating its eighth start- every year
since 2000- in the Petit's Tenth Anniversary run. In that
time they have scored not only the two victories (2005,
2006) but a second ('02) and third-place ('04) as well.
Only once has the team finished outside the top-ten or
failed to finish the full distance- both came in 2003
after a first hour accident eliminated the two-time 24
Hours of Le Mans-winners.
Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing has
used its Petit Le Mans titles to spur it to consecutive
Driver and IMSA Cup Championships the last two
seasons. That will not be the case this year as the
team has been forced to overcome a number of
issues resulting from on-track incidents. Despite
having one victory (Salt Lake City) and a podium finish
at the most recent race in Detroit, a quick Ferrari F430
GT- the team has sat on pole position three times and
taken fastest race lap six times- and no mechanical
failures or major pit stop snafus, the team finds itself
fighting for third-place in the IMSA Cup and Team
Championships. Injuries and scheduling conflicts
have rotated too many drivers through the No. 31 to
make a serious strike at the Driver Championship
in '07. Therefore, it is the overall significance of a
victory in this full-pace endurance race that drives
every member of Petersen Motorsports/White
Lightning Racing. The goal for the last two races of the
season- the schedule closes with the October 20th,
four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championships at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca- is singular in nature,
undeniable in its focus and inspiration: win.
Quotes
Dale White, Team Manager/Entrant: "We are here
to win. That is all that this is about. We aren't in the
battle for the championship this year; we aren't
fighting to give the drivers a title. We are here to win for
the sake of winning. That is all we are coming to
Atlanta to do. Then we will re-focus and go to Laguna
with that as our only goal there."
Peter Dumbreck, Driver: "Petit Le Mans is
gradually growing in stature and recognition. It is so
much so that I know a lot of drivers from Europe that
are very keen on joining the ALMS just for this race. As
the race is 1,000 miles long there are a lot more
factors involved than a normal sprint race. It's harder
physically and mentally and you have to think more
about not damaging the car. The winner is generally
the car that had the fewest problems not necessarily
the fastest. I expect that we as a team should be fast
in Petit and have a good chance of winning. We have a
very strong and experienced driver in Lucas joining
Dirk and myself in Atlanta. I have a lot of faith in the
team and respect for the work they do. The car has
always been 100 percent every time I have left the pits.
So, I look forward to the challenge of one of the main
races of the year. I would love to be in a position, as
I'm sure Dirk and Lucas would, to win the race and
thank everyone at Petersen/White Lightning for their
efforts this year."
Lucas Luhr, Driver: "I have to say that
Petersen/White Lightning is a great team and it feels
good to work with them. When you have fun you are
strong. Petit is a good race track and also the distance
is cool; not so long, not so short. I hope we can
continue to the fourth win together in a row; and then
the fifth!"
Dirk Müller, Driver: "I love Road Atlanta. I
personally believe that our Ferrari will be suited very
well to this awesome race track. It is great to have
good teammates which I know. This makes the goal
to win such a prestigious race much easier. Lucas
and I had been leading the race for most of the time in
2000 but we couldn't get the win do to a gearbox
problem. So we left something then that we really
would like to get this year with Peter and the whole
team. We just have to work as a team like before. With
the great support from all the guys like Mike, Dale,
Frank and all the mechanics we will be able to fight for
the victory. 1999 was a really great victory which meant
a lot to me. To win such a great race in your early
career is unbelievable! To win it this year would mean
a lot not only to me personally but because I think that
we as a team are really deserving it after all the
dramas we have had. The tenth anniversary would
just be the krone on top of it."
The 10th Anniversary Petit Le Mans will start at 11:15
AM (ET) on Saturday, October 6 with live television
coverage on SPEED Channel. The event can also be
heard live on the American Le Mans Series Radio
Web, available through the American Le Mans Series
web site.
Live timing and scoring of each on-track session and
the race can be found at
www.AmericanLeMans.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ou8qafcab.0.986o49bab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.AmericanLeMans.com).
More on Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning
Racing can be found at
www.PetersenMotorsports.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ou8qafcab.0.ijy7bzbab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.PetersenMotorsports.com)
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=ou8qafcab.0.z5ipx5bab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2F).
For more on the ALMS, please visit
www.AmericanLeMans.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ou8qafcab.0.986o49bab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.AmericanLeMans.com)
092807
Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ou8qafcab.0.ijy7bzbab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0289&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 driver bios
available at the Petersen Motorsports Online Media
Center
www.petersenmotorsports.com/mc_l
ogin.htm (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ou8qafcab.0.5olesacab.dxcsbzbab.141&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.petersenmotorsports.com%2Fmc_login.htm). Login information available upon
request.
Editors, please do not publish any contact
information other than web sites. Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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