De Silvestro finishes 3rd and keeps points lead while Muniz clutches 7th place

Joliet, July 25, 2009: With scattered clouds abound and 80 degree conditions the first race of the Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix presented by Mazda double-header weekend arrived and the Team Stargate Worlds driver duo of Simona De Silvestro and Frankie Muniz were hoping to leave the day with smiles and valuable points.

There was a hiccup at the first start of the race and after the confusion was settled the restart saw the pole winner John Edwards take the lead for the first lap. De Silvestro scooted behind the race leader and began putting pressure. Markus Niemela brought out a full-course yellow flag on lap #2. Restarting in third, as a result of a penalty imposed by race officials when De Silvestro jumped the original race start, she quickly began to battle Jonathan Summerton for the second spot. With De Silvestro all over him, Summerton was doing all he could to keep her behind him. The battle with Summerton allowed his teammate Edwards to put a big gap between him and second place. De Silvestro attempted to set up Summerton for a pass but the opportunities were far and few in between, but nevertheless the Scottsdale, AZ resident never relented. De Silvestro would eventually hold on to third place for the finish.

The start of the race for De Silvestro's teammate Frankie Muniz didn't go as he would have liked and by turn #4 on the first lap Muniz saw himself relegated to the last spot. He was able to regroup and by lap # 5 Muniz had rebounded back to his original starting spot of eighth. With 21 minutes left Muniz had caught up to the seventh place of Max Lefevre and began his attack. He dug in his heels in and with seven minutes left Muniz made a spectacular pass on turn #8 and from that point he began to put a lengthy gap between him and the eighth place. Muniz would go on to finish the race in seventh spot.

Frankie Muniz, Driver No. 77 - “I am pretty pleased with the way the day went. I drove very well. Even though I got passed on the start by two guys I managed to pass them back and I finished in seventh and we're pretty happy with that given how difficult this track is and where I have been running. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow. Many thanks to the team for giving me a great car.”

Simona De Silvestro, Driver No. 78- “We made a bit of a mistake at the start but we had a great car and though it was unfortunate that we couldn't get around Summerton we're happy that we did come out in third place and still retain the lead by 10 points and we know we have a good car for tomorrow so hopefully we'll get a better result.”

Imran Safiulla and Shane Seneviratne, Principals Of Team Stargate Worlds- "There was some confusion at the start and that took a little of our momentum on the restart. We had a little bit of a roll on Simona's car at the start and got a penalty rightfully handed down to us, which was unfortunate. As far as Simona's race goes it was a hard race and while she was unable to pass, she drove a great race. Frankie showed that he belongs with the front runners by driving a strong race and though he was stuck behind a slower car he was able to get by and pull away. We're happy with today and hope to put on a great race tomorrow.”