Subaru Road Racing Team Drivers Edge Toward Championship

- Aquilante, Skavnes pick up six points -

Phoenixville, PA – July 18, 2009

Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) teammates Andrew Aquilante and Kristian Skavnes came into Saturday’s Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge 24 points out of the lead for the series Driver Championship.

The duo is now six points closer to that goal, with three races to go.

After two hours 30 minutes of hard racing at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala., their third place finish was only 10 seconds away from the top rung of the winners circle. The points leader finished seventh today.

The team’s #111 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B., prepared by Phoenix Performance in Phoenixville, Pa., twice headed the 21-car pack, for four total laps, during Aquilante’s 45-lap stint. Subaru is one of nine car manufacturers represented in the KONI series’ Street Tuner class.

The race was taped by SPEED TV and scheduled to air July 25 at Noon ET.

The SRRT crew’s continual development work and Aquilante’s driving resulted in the team’s third front row start position of the season, only 6/10ths of a mile per hour off what could have been their third pole. Aquilante stayed on the race leader’s bumper for 36 laps, before taking the lead on lap 37, then laps 39-44. He pitted on lap 45 of the race’s 83 laps, then turned the controls over to Skavnes, who re-entered the race in fourth spot but jumped to second place two laps later.

Team owner Joe Aquilante noted the Subaru Legacy did what was asked of it. “Both AJ and Kris were very good about not over-extending the car until it was time, but we made a tactical error by not changing the rear tires during our pit stop. We only changed the fronts because it was quick, but with full-time all-wheel drive on the Subaru, the rear tires were in a condition late in the race that they couldn’t help as much as we needed.”

Aquilante owns the Phoenixville, Pa.-based SRRT Phoenix outfit which prepares the team’s Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B race car and serves as factory race partner for Subaru of America, Inc.  This is SRRT’s third season racing the Subaru Legacy.

James Han, Motorsports Marketing Manager for Subaru of America, noted that although Subaru lost a little ground in its drive for a Manufacturer Championship, “Subaru is the only auto brand out of the nine manufacturers represented in the series with just the one car. We’re well within reach of earning our first Grand-Am title, and considering the average entry counts and depth of competition, the team is representing Subaru well and putting in consistently strong performances with our Legacy platform. That said, the final three races will be crucial.”

The ninth of 11 races on the season will be Aug. 14-15 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, an hour east of Montreal. Held on a 1.52-mile, 10-turn circuit through the streets of the city, the 90-minute event is the only KONI Challenge race of the season not held on a purpose-built race track.

Sponsors for SRRT include Subaru Of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), VAC Motorsports, Automotive Racing Products, Hawk Brakes, Rockland Standard Gear, Quarter Master, Ecutek, Racing Radios, Lista, Rotary Lifts, Cusco, Carbonetic, Mac Tools, Hella, Perrin, and Vedalo HD.

About SRRT Phoenix Racing
SRRT Phoenix LLC represents Subaru of America’s road racing efforts in the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge and is owned and managed by Joe Aquilante of Phoenix Performance, Inc. The team’s 32,000 sq. ft. facility is in Phoenixville, Pa., 40 miles west of Philadelphia, PA. Team drivers Kristian Skavnes and Andrew Aquilante race a Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT spec.B. in the Street Tuner class. For more information about the team and the cars, call Joe Aquilante at (610) 482-0141, or go to www.phoenixperformance.net. Fans can visit the team’s website at www.srrtphoenix.com

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