Subaru Road Racing Team Concludes Season in Fine Form

- Team Drivers Aquilante, Skavnes finish second in Drivers’ Championship -

Phoenixville, PA – October 8, 2009

Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) drivers Andrew Aquilante and Kristian Skavnes drove a focused race enroute to a fifth place finish in the four-hour Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge road racing series season finale at VIRginia International Raceway near Danville, Va.

When the checkered flag flew on the last lap of the season’s final race, Aquilante and Skavnes, drivers of the #111 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B, had finished second in the Street Tuner class’ season-long Drivers’ Championship.

Subaru gained two spots to finish a strong third in the 10-way battle for the Manufacturer Championship.

“I’m proud of what Andrew, Kristian, and our entire crew, accomplished not just today, but over the course of the full season,” noted Joe Aquilante, whose Phoenix Performance in Phoenixville, Pa., prepares the team’s Subaru.

“We completed 914 laps of 919 possible on the season at 11 tracks from coast-to-coast, finished every race, and led our class in five races. We did all this with only one car within our team. When you have all your eggs in one basket, you have to carry it carefully,” he pointed out.

“At V. I. R., we led our class three times for a total of 38 laps, our three pit stops were timed and executed perfectly, and we finished the race only a few seconds out of the win,” Aquilante added. “Although we did not win, this was a good day, and it has been a good season.”

Andrew Aquilante, on the second lap, rocketed into the lead from his second place on the starting grid, held the point for the next 23 laps, and again for eight laps during his second stint in the car. Skavnes ran in the number one spot for seven laps during his mid-race driving shift.

Aquilante qualified the Subaru second quickest on the rolling, 3.27-mile V. I. R. road course, with a 90.137mph lap, and turned an even-faster 90.634mph speed on the race’s 19th lap. That lap stood as the race’s fastest for all ST cars.

“This was our longest race of the season,” Andrew noted, “and VIR is a track where you can let the car stretch its legs. You have to manage tire and brake wear, though. Lots of very high-speed entries into tight corners here, and that’s hard on the brakes for everybody.”

“This concludes our third year of competing in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series,” said, James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc. “Even in the midst of an increasingly competitive ST field year-over-year, the team found its stride to achieve our best overall season. Joe Aquilante and at the contributing members at SRRT Phoenix and Phoenix Performance have done a remarkable job in fettling the performance available in our Subaru Legacy platform.”

During the weekend’s pre-race test day, exploratory laps were recorded by the team’s Subaru Impreza WRX STI as a potential 2010 season Grand Sports class contender. Aquilante and Skavnes were joined by five-time SCCA National Champion Don Knowles. “The results were encouraging”, noted Aquilante, “but there are no firm plans yet. We would like to do it, and so would our partners at Subaru.”

The SRRT team effort also tied for first for the Team Performance Index award. Andrew Aquilante won the Driver Performance Index for the Street Tuner class, over 138 drivers, with Kristian Skavnes placing third.

The Index awards are computed on qualifying and finish positions, laps led, and consistency, as well as other performance parameters with a score of 1.000 as perfect,

Sponsors for SRRT include Subaru Of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), VAC Motorsports, Automotive Racing Products, Hawk Brakes, Rockland Standard Gear, Quarter Master, Ecutek, Racing Radios, Lista, Rotary Lifts, Cusco, Carbonetic, Mac Tools, Hella, Perrin, and Vedalo HD

About SRRT Phoenix Racing
SRRT Phoenix LLC represents Subaru of America’s road racing efforts in the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge and is owned and managed by Joe Aquilante of Phoenix Performance, Inc. The team’s 32,000 sq. ft. facility is in Phoenixville, Pa., 40 miles west of Philadelphia, PA. Team drivers Kristian Skavnes and Andrew Aquilante race a Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT spec.B. in the Street Tuner class. For more information about the team and the cars, call Joe Aquilante at (610) 482-0141, or go to www.phoenixperformance.net. Fans can visit the team’s website at www.srrtphoenix.com

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