Team Stargate Worlds De Silvestro Starts in the Front

Joliet, July 25, 2009: The Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix presented by Mazda double-header weekend officially begun when the green flag dropped for the Race #1 qualifying session and the Team Stargate Worlds duo of Frankie Muniz and Simona De Silvestro took to the track. Both were looking to end the session owning two solid starting positions. It wouldn’t be an easy task as the 3.56-mile, 21-turn permanent road circuit would require an intense physical and mental effort from the racers.

For Team Stargate Worlds driver and current points leader Simona De Silvestro, she began her qualifying effort and immediately showed competitive speed times. During her earlier practice session De Silvestro was only capable of having a lap time of 2:06.154, which put her in the third spot, but it was looking obvious that she would fair far better in her qualifying effort. Simona owned second place on the timesheets for the majority of the session and with every lap tried to improve her time. As the session ended she would end up finishing a respectable 2nd place. To date Simona has qualified on the front row 5 out of 6 races this year. She enters tomorrow’s race focused on earning her fourth win of the season.

Looking to rebound from last week’s event, Frankie Muniz was also looking at having a stellar qualifying session. Muniz who has qualified in the top-10 in every race thus far this season was looking at continuing that trend. Muniz also set a fast pace at the start of the session. By lap # 11 he sat in the 6th spot and with every lap grew stronger and faster. Executing all twenty-one turns of the track with precision, Muniz hit his stride and looked to finish the session in strong form. As the checkered flag drew for the session Muniz had been able to preserve his top-10 form and finished the session in the 8th spot.

Frankie Muniz, Driver No. 77 - “I’m a little disappointed to be starting in 8th, but overall I am satisfied with how the day went. I’m happy about my driving effort, especially since the qualifying session was the fastest I had ran all weekend. I’m pushing real hard and I’m taking big steps and this place is very technically difficult. Its going to be a long race and it will be a challenge not to make any mistakes throughout the race and whoever makes the least amount of mistakes will go on to win so my goal is to bring home a top-5 finish.”

Simona De Silvestro, Driver No. 78- “Overall I am pretty happy with today’s results. It’s a tough track to run both physically and mentally so I’m satisfied with a second place start. A front row start is a positive thing. We will go back and make some minor tweaks on the car but I’m happy with the Team Stargate Worlds team and our chances for tomorrow."

Imran Safiulla and Shane Seneviratne, Principals Of Team Stargate Worlds- ???"Simona drove a very hard session and we came up a little short. We start on the front row and hope to pick up some valuable points. Frankie continues to show progress and it should be a good race tomorrow. We look forward to it."