Patrick Barrett Has Up and Down Weekend at Mid-Ohio Grand-Am Event
Los Osos, Ca - June 24, 2008 -
Patrick Barrett's return to competition in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 GT class this
past weekend at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio was somewhat of a roller coaster ride. This was Barrett's,18, second
weekend in the series behind the wheel of the #32 Kolliner-Long Gallery, Miracle-Sealants, Konica-Minolta Pontiac GXP.R, and it ended
prematurely.
Barrett was quick in all of the Friday practices and posted an impressive sixth fastest time in the 60 minute Saturday morning
session. He and the PR1 Motorsports team were confident that they had a car that could run at the front. Co-driver Mike Forest started
the race tenth and was in eighth as rain started falling on lap seven, ten minutes into the two hour and forty five minute race. At
that point Forest was almost half way around the undulating fifteen turn 2.4 mile road course when he had contact with the spinning
Farnbacher-Loes #87 Porsche. "Mike had nowhere to go, very tricky conditions as rain began to fall, the entire field was on race slicks
and just about to come in for rain tires," according to Barrett.
Patrick Barrett in PR1 Motorsports #32 Pontiac GXP.R at Mid-Ohio
(Photo: John Barrett)
Extensive front end damage from the contact ended the day before Barrett was able to take his turn behind the wheel of the #32,
ultimately finishing twenty second. "It's obviously disappointing that we dropped out of the race so early. Mike and the team did
everything right throughout the weekend, I just feel really bad for everyone. I think we had a car that could have taken us to a top
three finish." said Barrett.
"There were a lot of positives that came out of the weekend though. The team gained a great deal of confidence, performing well in
all of the practice sessions and qualifying. I've been training a lot since my last outing at Virginia, and I felt a great improvement
in my physical performance. All in all, the weekend was successful. The team improved on their performance and we showed how competitive
we can be on a new course. I'm really looking forward to my next race with PR1 Motorsports. Again, I want to thank my personal sponsors
Kolliner-Long Gallery based in Cambria, California and Alpinestars for their tremendous support."
Visit www.PatrickBarrettRacing.com for more on Patrick, and his personal 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.
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