Patrick Barrett Racing

Patrick Barrett Makes His Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Debut at Virginia International Raceway this Sunday, April 27th

Los Osos, Ca - April 21, 2008

- Patrick Barrett will make his Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series debut in the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway this Sunday, April 27th.

2007 Team USA Scholarship winner and 2007 Pacific F2000 Champion Barrett will co-drive the PR1 Motorsports/Kolliner-Long/Gallery /Alpinestars Pontiac GXP.R with Canadian Mike Forest. The 18 year old from Los Osos, California will contest the premiere North American endurance sports car road racing series with the team that he dominated the Pacific F2000 Championship.

"I'm really excited about competing in my first Grand-Am race this weekend. I've been working extensively with PR1 Motorsports throughout the off season to develop our knowledge of the Pontiac GXP.R." says Barrett. "The car is a big step up from the much lighter open wheel cars that I competed in last year, but I've been learning a lot about driving the heavy GT."

Pat Barrett Grand-Am GT

(Photo: John Barrett)

Drivers in the dual class series share driving duties in the 2.75 to 24 hour Grand-Am races. The VIR race will run 2 hours and 45 minutes or 250 miles on the 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course.

"I tested a Star Mazda formula car at VIR last October and enjoyed my time on the circuit. It's very fast, flowing and smooth, so I'm happy that I have some knowledge of the track. It could be a tough race though because the weather can be hot and humid at VIR, and we do stints of up to 1 ½ hour with in-car temps at around 125 degrees. I've been training really hard during the off season and have been building my physical endurance, so I feel real good about the weekend."

PR1 Pontiac GXP.R

(Photo: John Barrett)

Barrett's race car is a rear wheel drive Pontiac G6 GXP.R with a tubular space-frame steel chassis and carbon-fiber and steel body which is home to a 6.0L LS2 V-8 that produces 450 brake horsepower and is mated to a 5-speed manual sequential gearbox.

SPEED TV will show the Bosch Engineering 250 at 9 AM PDT on both Saturday May 3rd and on Monday May 5th. Visit www.PatrickBarrettRacing.com for more on Patrick, and his sponsors at www.KollinerLongGallery.com and www.Alpinestars.com. You can go to www.Grand-Am.com and www.PR1motorsports.com to find out more about Grand-Am and PR1.