Barrett Has Satisfying Showing at Grand-Am's New Jersey Motorsports Park Debut
Los Osos, Ca - September 2, 2008 - Patrick Barrett and PR1 Motorsports led the first laps of their short tenure in the Grand-Am
Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16 last weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.J.
They also had their best qualifying result as Barrett celebrated his 19th birthday with a great qualifying session on Saturday. He
placed the #32 PR1 Motorsports Miracle Sealants/Kolliner-Long Gallery/Konica Minolta Pontiac GXP.R in the fourth starting spot on the
grid for Sunday's race. This followed a stellar second fastest GT time in the Saturday morning thirty minute combined practice session.
Patrick Barrett Leads Rolex GT at New Jersey Motorsports Park
(Photo: John Barrett)
"As happy as I am with qualifying fourth, I am a little unsatisfied knowing I could have gone just a little faster. I know a lot of
drivers say that, but my reason is that early on in the session, when the tires were at their best, I kept running into traffic and
wasn't able to get the space I needed. Overall though, this is a fantastic result for the whole PR1 crew, and an awesome birthday
present too!," said Barrett
The event was Barrett's third Grand-Am weekend, his second qualifying session and effectively his second race since the car retired
early at Mid Ohio before he got his turn at the wheel.
25 GT cars took the green flag for the start of the 2 ¾ hour Supercar Life 250, Grand-Am's inaugural endurance race on the 2.25
mile,12 turn Thunderbolt road course. Barrett moved up to the third spot after he deftly avoided a stationary Cheever Racing Pontiac
Coyote which spun out of the field of 17 faster Daytona Prototypes and ended up in the middle of Turn 1.
Two laps later Barrett inherited the GT lead as the two cars in front elected to take early pit stops under caution. Barrett
maintained the lead for the next sixteen laps before making his first pit stop during the second yellow flag period to take on fuel and
new left side tires. The PR1 crew sent him back out in second place immediately behind the Connolly Pontiac that had elected not to pit
with most of the rest of the GT field.
Barrett held station in second for thirty more laps as he tried to conserve fuel and tires in hopes that he would reclaim the point
when the leader pitted. He eventually fell to third as his deteriorating right side tires slowed the car through the left hand turns, and
he pitted under a full course caution at the 90 minute mark just after falling to fifth to avoid a spinning Porsche in Turn 9.
Barrett handed the car over to co-driver Mike Forest who took the checked flag in 7th place after a grueling incident filled stint
that saw some very close racing and quite uncomfortable cockpit temperatures. Forest's cool suit experienced a connection failure which
made things challenging for Mike in the Pontiac's 135 degree interior.
"I was pretty excited when I found myself in the lead early on. It was a great feeling, especially when I was in first place with
three other Pontiac GXP.Rs behind me," commented Barrett. "I felt in control, but at the same time excited, like I was when I led my
first kart race. It's a little disappointing finishing 7th, considering our qualifying efforts, but we're a team who is still learning
everything there is to endurance sports car racing. This weekend proves that we can run up front and challenge for wins, so I'm really
looking forward to the season finale in Salt Lake City in three weeks."
The team was assessed a ten second penalty for a safety apparel violation during a pit stop and was scored in eleventh in the final
results, a place which certainly does not reflect the great performances from Barrett, Forest and the crew.
Barrett will be back in the car for the season finale in the SunRichGourmet.com 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park in Toole, Utah, south
of Salt Lake City on September 18-20.
"I want to thank my personal sponsors Kolliner-Long Gallery based in Cambria, California and Alpinestars for their tremendous
support. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am today doing what I love."
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.
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