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Polesitter Lee Wins Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Race at Autobahn Country Club

Second-place Megenbier maintains the Championship lead and earns the right to race in Germany

JOLIET, Ill., July 26 -- The Autobahn Country Club's 21 turns provided the perfect setting for some of the closest racing action that the SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup has seen all season long. In the end, it was the hunter versus the hunted with the series points leader playing the former to the eventual first-time winner, Andy Lee.

Polesitter, Lee of Maricopa, Arizona held strong in his position for a majority of the race despite constant pursuit from various drivers who played leapfrog with second place. In the end, Lee faced extreme pressure from series points leader Megenbier who was poised to make a move when a full course caution came out with less than five minutes remaining in the race. The #15 car of Theresa Condict made hard contact with the tire barrier in turn one, forcing the stewards to display the yellow flag. Because the limited time left in the race, Andy Lee cruised under yellow, taking the checkered flag ahead of Megenbier and Mark Pombo who rounded out the podium. Once he reached victory lane, Lee proceeded to climb on his car's roof and do a victory dance to celebrate his first win in two seasons of competition in the series. The victory moves him into second position in the Championship standings behind Megenbier who holds a 24-point lead.

"Today was quite the battle," Lee said. "I made some mistakes early in the race, but fortunately I was able to hang on and get into a rhythm. Timmy (Megenbier) was all over me late in the race, and he was trying everything under the sun to force me to make mistakes including flashing his lights and turning on his windshield wipers. Fortunately, it wasn't working. When the caution came out, I thought that they might give us one more lap, but when I saw the checked flag, it was the best feeling in the world. It's really rewarding to get this win after a season and half in this series."

Despite coming in second, Megenbier was his usual smiling self, as he increased his Championship lead and won a much larger prize of the opportunity to compete in the Jetta TDI Cup's sister series in Germany, the Polo Cup. The Melrose Park, Illinois native receives this prize as a result of being the points leader at the midway point of the season. He will now leave for Germany in three days and travel to Oschersleben to compete against European drivers in the Volkswagen spec series Aug. 2.

"Andy (Lee) and I were running away from the rest of the field, and I desperately wanted to try to get by him, but I wasn't willing to do anything that would risk taking either one of us out of the race," Megenbier said. "Unfortunately for me, the yellow came out, and I never had a chance to try to make a clean pass. I'll definitely take second because it means that I'm going to be going to Germany to race next weekend in the Polo Cup. It's a great opportunity, and I can't wait to see how I stack up against the European competition. It's been a great weekend for me since I had so many family members and friends here at my home track cheering me on. It was really rewarding to be able to stand up on the podium and hear their cheers."

The top five drivers in the Championship points standings are: 1-Timmy Megenbier (188), 2-Andy Lee (164), 3-Joey Atterbury (153), 4-Jake Thompson (141) and 5-Taylor Broekemeier (115). The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series returns to action Aug. 14-15 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for Round 6 of the 10-round season.

About Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup

The 2009 season marks the second year of competition for the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, which is sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing. During the season, young, up and coming drivers (between ages 16-26) will compete in 10 events on eight road courses around North America in identical factory-prepared clean diesel Jetta TDI's powered by Syndiesel B5 blended biodiesel fuel. Each driver competing in the series will earn a Pro Racing license from SCCA at the conclusion of the season. In addition to more than $50,000 in prize money at stake during the season, the series champion will win $100,000.

The Jetta TDI Cup car is powered by a 2.0-liter, 170 hp, four-cylinder TDI clean diesel engine mated to a six-speed, double-clutch, automatic DSG transmission. The car is only slightly modified from stock with Pirelli racing tires, race suspension and brake components, drivers racing safety seat, FIA roll cage and an on-board fire extinguisher system. Series sponsors include: Pirelli, Bosch, ViON, Castrol, Oakley, Red Bull, HYPERFUELS, Aggreko, defNder, Lamin-X, Meguiar's, Sherwin-Williams, Chicagoland VW, Safety-Kleen, Ringer Gloves, Jim Russell Racing School and Trellis Earth.

  Follow the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series action on:
  www.vwmotorsportusa.com
  www.tditruthanddare.com

SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Live Timing & Scoring: http://www.livetiming.net/SCCA/VW/livetiming.asp

  Volkswagen Online Newsroom: media.vw.com
  Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/JettaTDICup
  Twitter: http://twitter.com/VWJettaTDICup

* Series photos available upon request or via media.vw.com
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