Rolex Series Attracts VIR Record Crowd for Saturday's Bosch Engineering 250

DAYTONA BEACH, April 28, 2009: Saturday's Bosch Engineering 250, Round 2 of the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, drew a record race weekend crowd at Virginia International Raceway.

"The Bosch Engineering 250 Weekend set a new record for attendance for automobile racing at VIR since it reopened in 2000," said Josh Lief, General Manager at Virginia International Raceway. "Advance tickets sales were up 40 percent over 2008. Preliminary reporting shows that overall ticket sales for the event weekend were up at least fifteen percent. We are very proud of our effort at VIR, and for the great work of our partners and friends at Bosch, Grand-Am, Volkswagen and many others who all helped make this event the great success that it was."

In addition, ratings for SPEED's live television broadcast were up 10 percent for the event, which is on top of an 11 percent increase in 2008, giving the event significant increases over two consecutive years.

"SPEED's production of Grand-Am Road Racing improves year after year," said Grand-Am President Roger Edmondson. "Our on-track excitement and fan-friendly activities continue to draw fans to our races, along with viewers to our race broadcasts."

The race was preceded by an autograph session, featuring all of the Rolex Series drivers, and a 30-minute Fan Walk where the pre-race grid was open, free of charge, to all spectators.

"When I rolled in the gate Saturday morning, I was astonished at the crowd - the entire facility was packed with car, tents, RVs and fans," said Andy Lally, driver of the TRG Porsche who also drove fan laps to benefit Camp Boggy Creek. "It was an exciting weekend."

Alex Gurney held off Michael Valiante and David Donohue in an exciting finish to win in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley started by Jon Fogarty. Robin Liddell survived a late-race charge by Paul Edwards to give the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Bryan Mark Pontiac GXP.R the GT class victory in a one-two finish for Pontiacs.

"It was definitely a great crowd," Gurney said. "It was a beautiful day and a fantastic turnout. We can tell that people are identifying more with our series and the great on-track action. It was very exciting from the driver's seat, and we showed the people we can put on a great show."

The Rolex Series returns to action this weekend at Thunderbolt Raceway in Millville, N.J.'s New Jersey Motorsports Park. Practice begins Friday at 8:40 a.m., with qualifying Saturday at 1:45 p.m. and the two-hour, 45-minute race taking the green flag at 1 p.m. Sunday. The race will be televised live on SPEED. The weekend also includes a two-hour, 30-minute KONI Sports Car Challenge race on Saturday at 3 p.m