Patrick Barrett to Run Pontiac GXP.R in Grand-Am with PR1 Motorsports
Los Osos, Ca - March 21, 2008
Team USA Scholarship winner and 2007 Pacific F2000 Champion Patrick Barrett will break into the professional sports car racing ranks
with PR1 Motorsports in the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16.
The 18-year-old Barrett will contest the premiere North American endurance sports car road racing series with the team that he
dominated the Pacific F2000 Championship with this past season. He'll share the Pontiac GXP.R with drivers from the PR1 stable,
Canadian Mike Forest and Californians Thomas Merrill and Alan Sciuto. The team will make their Grand-Am debut in the GT class at the
Gainsco Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead Miami Speedway on March 29th.
Drivers in the dual class series share driving duties in the 2.75 to 24 hour races. Barrett will travel to Miami next weekend and
standby as the team's reserve driver. Then in April he'll co-drive the Pontiac with Mike Forest at PR1's 2nd event, the Bosch
Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday the 27th.
The Los Osos, California teenager is a seasoned racer, having driven a variety of road racing cars in North America and England,
and chalked up 28 open wheel formula car wins since 2005. "I see a bright future for endurance sports car racing in North
America, says Barrett. The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series represents my best opportunity to develop a career as a professional
race car driver in North America. I expect to take my winning ways to Grand-Am GT."
Pat Barrett Grand-Am GT
(Photo: John Barrett)
"The sophisticated Grand-Am GT car is a natural entry point into sports car racing for me. My success working with excellent open
wheel race engineers on highly tunable equipment will serve me well in GT, adds Barrett."
"Grand-Am is the fastest growing series in North America and has some very close and exciting racing, according to Barrett.
Corporations involved in the series are seeing a great return on their investment...so I feel that there are opportunities for me to
build relationships here that will really pay off for my marketing partners, me and Grand-Am."
SPEED TV will show the Gainsco Grand Prix of Miami at 3PM PDT on Sunday the 29th
You can go to www.Grand-Am.com and www.PR1motorsports.com to find out more about Grand-Am and PR1.
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