Subaru Road Racing Team Back on Familiar Turf  

- Race at ‘The Glen’ pivotal for team’s championship hopes -

Phoenixville, PA – June 2, 2009

The Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge series hits the middle of its 11-race season Friday at Watkins Glen International, the world-famous 3.4-mile road course in upstate New York, marking a weekend that stands as an icon of all Grand-Am seasons.

The Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT), which is based just four Interstate highway hours away in Phoenixville, Pa., approaches this 2 ½-hour race on very familiar turf as an opportunity to revitalize their hopes for a championship in the Street Tuner class with the #111 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B race car.

After five races of 11 races, co-drivers Andrew Aquilante, Chester Springs, Pa., and Kristian Skavnes, Sparta, N.J., are ranked fourth in the Driver Championship points.

Subaru also sits fourth out of nine manufacturers that have contested the largest class in all of Grand-Am racing. Thirty ST cars are entered for Saturday’s race, which will include 22 Grand Sports (GS) class cars.

“Our team was understandably disappointed with finishing only 13th at Lime Rock two weeks ago, as it had nothing to do with effort or preparation; minor contact broke a valve stem on a wheel and led to a flat tire,” said James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc.

“This race is on a very storied race track and comes at a pivotal time in the points championship. I’m glad that SRRT is so familiar with the track from previous experience.”

Joe Aquilante owns the Phoenixville, Pa.-based SRRT Phoenix company which prepares the team’s Subaru Legacy race car and serves as factory race partner for Subaru of America, Inc. This is SRRT’s third season racing the Subaru. The team won KONI Challenge races in 2007 at Lime Rock and both 2007-08 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Skavnes secured a three-hour professional race win at Watkins Glen in 1996, and Andrew Aquilante has many WGI trophies from his SCCA Club Racing seasons. SRRT raced two Subarus in the 2007 KONI Challenge race at Watkins Glen and placed both in the top 10.

“If there’s any point in this season where we can show the results we’re capable of, Watkins Glen and at the following round at Mid-Ohio are it,” said Joe Aquilante. “Racing’s tough out there, trying to score Manufacturer Championship points for Subaru when we have the only Subaru on the track, but that adds emotional value to everything we earn.”

Practice is Thursday, with qualifying Friday at 12:30pm. The race gets the green flag Friday at 4pm. The SPEED TV broadcast of the race will air June 14 at 2pm ET.

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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