Patrick Barrett and PR1 Finish a Season Best Fourth at Miller Grand-Am
Daytona Beach, Fl - January 22, 2009-
North America's endurance sports car season kicks off this week with its biggest event,
the 24 hour Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 race at
Florida's famed Daytona International Speedway.. Patrick Barrett will see double duty.
He'll be with PR1 Motorsports in their Pontiac Grand-Am GXP.R in Saturday and Sunday's 24 hour race
as the reserve driver and will contest the Koni Fresh From Florida 200 race on Friday with APR Motorsports
in their VW GTI.
The PR1 driver lineup includes Edmonton, Canada's Mike Forest, Barrett's co-driver in the team's best
Rolex GT finish to date, a fourth in the 2008 season finale at Miller Motorsports Park, Utah. Three California
drivers, Thomas Merrill from Salinas, Al Salvo from Arcadia and Jeff Westphal from San Carlos will be on board
the number 32 Miracle Sealants GT for the round-the-clock race.
"Everyone on the team is feeling really good about our chances for a strong finish. The crew has done an
amazing job preparing the car throughout winter testing and I think if we can stay out of trouble and run a
consistent pace, we can finish well" Barrett said.
Patrick Barrett to do Double Duty at the Daytona Grand-Am Races This Week
(Photo: John Barrett)
On Friday, Barrett, the 19 year old college student from Los Osos, California will pair with fellow San Luis Obispo county resident, and APR
veteran Mike Sweeney in the number 181 VW GTI. Their sister car, the Gunther VW number 171, will be piloted by 2006 Daytona 24 GT class winner
Ian Baas of Indianapolis, Indiana and reigning SCCA VW Jetta TDI Cup Champion Josh Hurley of Cooper City, Florida.
Barrett commented, "I'm really looking forward to competing in my first Koni Sports Car Challenge race with APR. The team has a very positive
and professional attitude and showed well in their rookie season last year. I'm excited about working with them."
The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 twenty four hour marathon will be run on the Daytona high banked oval,
which when configured with infield turns is 3.56 miles long. The three hour Grand-Am Koni Sports Car Challenge race will be run on the same 12-turn
speedway road course.
Barrett is coming off a successful rookie season in Grand-Am Rolex GT. In addition to crossing the finish line in fourth at the season finale
Pacific F2000 champion, raced in England as a member of the 2007 Team USA Scholarship program and was 2006 Jim Russell USA series champion.
The Daytona 24 will be broadcast live starting on Saturday the 24th at 3 PM Eastern on FOX and will continue on SPEED TV at 4:30 PM and 7 AM
Eastern on Sunday the 25th. The Koni Fresh From Florida 200 will be broadcast at a later date by SPEED.
Visit www.PatrickBarrettRacing.com for more on Patrick, and you can go to www.Grand-Am.com , www.PR1motorsports.com, www.APRMotorsports.com
to find out more about Grand-Am, PR1 and APR. Please visits our sponsor's sites: www.Alpinestars.com , www.MiracleSealants.com .
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