SRRT Phoenix - Aquilante, Spaude, Score Subaru Teams Best Finish To Date

- Duo races Subaru Impreza WRX STI to 5th place at Lime Rock Park -

Lakeville, Conn. – June 1, 2010

Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) drivers Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude raced their 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI to a solid fifth place finish in this past weekend’s GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport race at the famed, 1.53-mile Lime Rock Park racing circuit, round five of the series.

Driving a car race-prepared and tuned by Phoenix Performance of Phoenixville, Pa., Andrew Aquilante of Phoenixville, Pa., and co-driver Bret Spaude, of Bushnell, Fla. whose ages combined (44 years) amount to less than most of their individual competitors, took the green flag from a season-best 11th spot on the 31-car starting grid, and ran as high as second place under pit stop sequencing.

The Lime Rock race, the halfway point of the season, was deemed by SRRT owner Joe Aquilante, “… the race week we’ve been looking forward to all season.”

“We had time since the last race to analyze mechanical issues and make them go away, both AJ and Brett were familiar with the Lime Rock circuit and had positive outlooks about racing here, and the timing of our two pit stops and the crew’s performance in them was flawless.

Joe Aquilante noted, “Our team strategist, John Heinricy, felt keeping AJ (Andrew) on the track as long as possible would be the best plan, in case there was reason for a full-course yellow flag situation while the pitting was going on. He was correct, but the yellow flags didn’t happen.”

“About 25 laps from the end, we felt we were headed for a solid third place finish, but two cars tangled ahead of AJ, he slowed to avoid them and was passed by two other cars. But he got back to fifth, and that was fine. AJ and Brett did a great job for us this weekend.”

Added James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc., “Our result coming away from Lime Rock [Park] has been one based on the tireless efforts of the entire team from our technicians and drivers to the office staff and our corporate associates.

“Joe [Aquilante] and the crew have done a stellar job in illustrating the competitiveness of the Subaru Impreza platform and continue to showcase the performance traits of our core Subaru technologies in the symmetrical AWD system and boxer engine within a highly competitive series.”

The next race is another 2.5-hour event, Saturday, June 5, at 10:15am, at Watkins Glen International near Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Sponsors for SRRT include Subaru Of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), Ron Davis Racing Radiators, Hawk Brakes, freeM of America, VAC Motorsports, Automotive Racing Products, Rockland Standard Gear, Quarter Master, Ecutek, Lista, Rotary Lifts, Cusco, Carbonetic, Hella, and Perrin.

 

About SRRT Phoenix LLC

SRRT Phoenix LLC represents Subaru of America Inc.’s  road racing effort in the 10-round GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series and is owned and managed by Joe Aquilante of Phoenix Performance, LLC. The team’s 32,000 sq. ft. facility is in Phoenixville, Pa., 40 miles west of Philadelphia, PA. Team drivers Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude race a Subaru Impreza WRX STI in the Grand Sport class.

For more information about the team and the cars, call Joe Aquilante at (610) 482-0141.  Fans can visit the team’s website at www.srrtphoenix.com and the Phoenix Performance website at www.phoenixperformance.net

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