Championship Lead Continues Heading into Final Round

Dated: August 3, 2007


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ImageWest Caldwell, N.J. (August 3, 2007)-- A second place finish at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal delivers 9 out of 12 podiums for Bryce Miller and his co-driver Dirk Werner, who have managed to sustain their Championship lead heading into the final round at Salt Lake City, Utah. The team looks to re-group at Farnbacher Loles's Atlanta shop where the No. 87 Marquis Jet / IPC / Elf Oil Porsche will undergo extensive preparation for what will be a 7 1/2 hour endurance race on September 15th. However, the second place result in Montreal appears bittersweet and marred in chaos and confusion surrounding an official ruling.

Miller moved quickly into second position after qualifying third on the famed Canadian Formula 1 circuit. "It became evident very quickly that we had the package to go to the front." Miller said. Moments after getting by the No. 07 Championship contending Pontiac, Miller was able to set a fastest lap in pursuit of the race leading Speedsource Mazda. The margin quickly evaporated between the two cars but the Mazda was saved by a caution flag just as the No. 87 Porsche had arrived.

Werner, who took over from co-driver Bryce Miller midway through the race, led twice for a race-high 36 laps. Miller spoke for Werner, who had to catch a flight back to Germany immediately after the race. “The car was good,” Miller said. “We really should have won today. The re-start after the final caution period left us with two laps to go and lapped traffic to navigate through. I know Dirk is very displeased with the conduct of the car he had contact with on the final lap, but I feel the larger question is why Grand-Am did not excersise their standard "wave-by" policy. Still, Andy and RJ drove a great race again and positioned themselves to capitalize on the opportunity - hats off to them.”

The "wave-by" rule was introduced by Grand-Am, the sanctioning body of the Rolex Series earlier this season and stipulates that lapped cars caught behind the pace-car be waved by to ensure clear uninterrupted racing for the leaders. Werner, tried to manage the situation himself by leaving a large gap between him and the lapped cars in front of him just before taking the green for what would be the last two laps of the race. This allowed him to retain the lead uninterrupted until three corners from the finish line where he was confronted again with the same lapped traffic. One of the cars made a sudden move for position and hit Werner, almost spinning him out. After starting on the pole, Paul Edwards spun in his Pontiac to avoid contact and ended the race eighth and now outside Championship contention. Andy Lally was able to thread the needle in this incident and bring home a victory with Dirk running closely behind. Nick Ham and Montreal native Sylvain Tremblay, also competing for the GT championship, finished ninth in GT in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazdaspeed Mazda RX-8. Like Edwards, Tremblay ran in the top five on the final lap but also spun off track. The ninth-place finish eliminated Ham from title contention.

Says, Miller on the issue: "Even though the team really deserved a victory we are fortunate that Dirk was able to recover from the contact. We could have spun just as the Pontiac did which would have taken us out of Championship contention. I'm counting our blessings and setting my sights on our final race in Salt Lake City"