John Edwards salvages P6 at Watkins Glen - moves up in championship

Woodbridge, Ontario (June 9, 2008): The gremlins were out at Watkins Glen the past week and they seemed to be zeroed in on the AIM Autosport No. 7 as a number of glitches plagued the team throughout the weekend. In the end, driver John Edwards brought the car home P6 and has picked up two spots in the championship. With 75 points, he is eighth overall.

The team was on hand Wednesday for testing and showed very well with John finishing the session P2 and P3 on the day. On Thursday morning they were off the pace however and found an electrical problem that had the team frantically working into the night to rectify. They were feeling confident that with two 45-minute sessions on Friday ahead of qualifying, they could get enough track time to work out any bugs and be on pace. That was until the end of the first session Friday morning.

"We had a mechanical failure in one of the rear wheels" noted team manager Keith Willis. "As John was coming into the final turn at speed, the car went around backwards and John hit the outside wall damaging both rear corners and the bounce bent some of the front suspension. We were now looking at rebuilding three corners of the car in time for the next practice session."

The team went to work, and with the help of some crew members from AIM's Daytona Prototype team at the track for a Grand Am race, they got the #7 Mazda out to the grid for the second half of the session. Even one of the team owners, Andrew Bordin, pitched in to get the job done. John would do some shakedown laps and gather data so the crew could get the car ready for qualifying later that afternoon.

Qualifying was a shortened affair due to red flags in the first session but John would recover and put the car on the inside of row three for the race with a time of 1:46.830.

The green flag dropped at 9:05 a.m. Saturday morning and John would attempt some moves up the field early but did not have a clean run on the cars ahead and would hold at P5. Late in the 45-minute race the car appeared to be down on power and John would be passed for position dropping him to sixth. He would cross the checkers P6.

"I guess you'd have to say we had a bad weekend" commented John after the race. "We were able to deal with every setback this weekend but just didn't have it in the end to make a move for the front. We tried early but the guys up front didn't make it easy to pass and then we seemed to lose power at which point we worked to maintain position." He continued, "The AIM Autosport crew did a great job to keep me on track all weekend and we did manage some very valuable points. The next race at Portland is a double-header and we are hoping a strong weekend there will move us further up in the championship."

The next race is at Portland International Raceway, June 26 and 27. Star Mazda is the feature that weekend and they will run two races over Saturday and Sunday.

The race from Watkins Glen will be broadcast on SPEED TV on Saturday, June 21 at 11:00 a.m. (ET)

AIM Autosport Facts:

Established in 1995, AIM Autosport has a mandate to identify, train and manage emerging motorsport talent. AIM has provided many young drivers with a solid foundation on which to build a career in professional racing. The success of the AIM driver development programs has been achieved through the dedication of our employees and the ongoing support of our commercial and technical partners. Away from the track, AIM Autosport serves the needs of the racing community with a purpose-built preparation shop situated in the Toronto suburb of Woodbridge, Ontario. AIM also fields the #61 Exchange Traded Gold Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype in the Rolex Grand Am series with drivers Mark Wilkins and Brian Frisselle.