Denver, N.C. (October 4, 2005) . The old adage "There's no place like home"
will be very evident this weekend as the #2 CITGO Racing Team travels to the
Virginia International Raceway for the VIR 400. The 13th race on the Grand
American Rolex Sports Car Series schedule this season will be a relative "home
game" for the CITGO Racing Team.
The 3.27-mile, 17-turn Virginia International Raceway is located less than
three hours from the Denver, North Carolina headquarters of Howard-Boss
Motorsports and the CITGO Racing Team. It's the closest track on the Rolex
Series schedule for the second-year team, and serves as the favorite testing
facility as well.
"We are very familiar with VIR, that's for sure," CITGO Racing Team lead
driver Andy Wallace stated. "It's so close to our shop and it has a great
range of fast and slow corners, which make for great testing. With the high
speed straight and several areas that require heavy braking, VIR provides
lots of challenges for man and machine. We've utilized the course for 'shakedown
runs' for our cars as well as brake stability tests. It's an excellent facility
that is both challenging and beautiful."
CITGO teammate Milka Duno agrees. "VIR is one of my favorite tracks to race
at and we did well here last season scoring a third-place podium. It is also
Howard-Boss Motorsports home track, so there will be many fans and friends
of the team at the race cheering the team on. That will be very inspiring."
"Every team hopes for a good finish at their home track, so I know that the
entire crew will be working very hard," Duno commented. "This is an
opportunity for employees of the team that don't normally travel to the
races to attend, as well as friends and families of the crew. This is a
chance for the team to shine in front of their friends and families, and
I have no doubt that they will. I'm hoping that my teammate Andy and I can
deliver a good finish to make the shine even brighter for them and for
CITGO."
The Alton, Virginia track will always hold a special meaning for Wallace,
and Max Crawford, owner of Crawford Race Cars. In 2002, Wallace teamed with
Chris Dyson to win the Grand Am race at VIR in the Crawford SSC2K. It was
the first win for the SSC2K chassis designed by Andy Scriven and
manufactured by Crawford Race Cars. Wallace and Duno will be piloting their
#2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford this weekend, also manufactured by Crawford Race
Cars.
When asked about VIR and this weekend, veteran Wallace commented, "We test
at VIR. We have lots of laps there. It's a course where our CITGO Pontiac
Crawford is very fast. It's close to our shop. We'll have more fans and
support for this race than anywhere else. We've won there before, and it's
time to win again."
The VIR 400 is set for 1 pm ET start on October 9th. Practice and qualifying
will e held on Friday and Saturday, October 7th and 8th. Speed Channel will
provide live coverage of the VIR 400 beginning at 1 pm ET Sunday.
CITGO, based in Houston, Texas, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of
transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, refined waxes, asphalt
and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc.,
an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.,
the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more
information on CITGO visit www.citgo.com .
Milka is currently featured in Pontiac's largest ever Spanish language
advertising campaign launching an all-new sports sedan - the Pontiac G6. Pontiac
is a division of General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and markets the Bonneville,
GTO, Grand Prix, Grand Am, G6, Vibe and Sunfire. In 2003, Pontiac sold more
than 475,000 vehicles, ranking third among GM divisions in total sales. 2004/2005
will see Pontiac launch an exciting new range of vehicles including the Montana
SV6, G6 coupe, G6 convertible and the Solstice roadster. More information
on Pontiac and its products can be found at www.pontiac.com . Information in Spanish
can be found atwww.pontiac.com/sp .
For additional information on Milka and Andy please visit www.milkaduno.com or www.andywallace.com ,
respectively. For more information on the Rolex
Sports Car Series log on to www.grandamerican.com .