Shortened Race at Virginia for Subaru Road Racing Team

- Spaude Shines in Early Laps -

Phoenixville, PA – April 24, 2010

Hopes of a strong race result at VIRginia International Raceway were dashed today when the race for the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) ended early following contact from another car.  The on-track contact broke the right rear tie rod, ultimately disabled the rear differential and occurred following a re-start based on an earlier yellow caution session.

 

SRRT drivers AJ Aquilante, Phoenixville, Pa., and Bret Spaude, Bushnell, Fla., were officially credited with a 26th place finish in this, the fourth round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series.

 

“Bret did a superb job for us during his stint,” said SRRT owner Joe Aquilante. “His race laps were smooth, consistent and incident free. His qualifying laps were two seconds faster than he had gone in practice and he brought the Subaru Impreza WRX STI to eighth place from a 14th place start in the Grand Sports class, before we pitted him under yellow on lap 22.

“Pitting early in the full-course yellow laps, we felt, would automatically slide us very close to the front when the race re-started, because everybody who pitted after us would form up behind us for the re-start. It was a near-perfect stop,” Aquilante added.

Only two laps into the re-start, though, with AJ Aquilante now driving, the Subaru was caught-up in a three-car mishap.

“Our SRRT crew repaired a broken right rear tie rod end, but the time required for repairs essentially took us out of the race for a top five finish. Still, the crew got the car repaired as quickly as we could and on track again. Unfortunately, it turned out the rear differential had also been damaged in the crash, so we had to call it a day,” said Joe Aquilante.

James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc. added, “It’s unfortunate to come away from this race without the finishing result that both the team and our car were capable of.”

The race was televised by SPEED TV to air May 1 at 1pm ET.

The halfway point race in the Continental Challenge season will be May 29 at 3pm ET on the scenic Lime Rock Park circuit near Lakeville, Conn.

Sponsors for SRRT include Subaru Of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), Ron Davis Racing Radiators, Hawk Brakes, freeM of America, VAC Motorsports, Automotive Racing Products, Rockland Standard Gear, Quarter Master, Ecutek, Lista, Rotary Lifts, Cusco, Carbonetic, Hella, and Perrin.

About SRRT Phoenix LLC

SRRT Phoenix LLC represents Subaru of America Inc.’s  road racing effort in the 10-round GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series and is owned and managed by Joe Aquilante of Phoenix Performance, LLC. The team’s 32,000 sq. ft. facility is in Phoenixville, Pa., 40 miles west of Philadelphia, PA. Team drivers Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude race a Subaru Impreza WRX STI in the Grand Sport class.

For more information about the team and the cars, call Joe Aquilante at (610) 482-0141.  Fans can visit the team’s website at www.srrtphoenix.com and the Phoenix Performance website at www.phoenixperformance.net

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