Spaude and the Subaru Road Racing Team Optimistic Moving toward Close of the Season

GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 29, 2011 - P1 Groupe driver Bret Spaude and the rest of the Subaru Road Racing Team had extremely high hopes heading into last weekend's B+ Foundation Heroes 200 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ. The race marked the ninth of ten races on the schedule for the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series, and the first race being sponsored by Subaru this season. Spaude and his co-driver Andrew Aquilante knew their #35 Subaru WRX-STI would be fast and could contend for the title at their home track. The car was Top-10 on the speed charts in both practice sessions, and when Spaude was called upon to qualify the car he did not disappoint by laying down a time that would start the Subaru Team in third position for the race. An infraction sent the car to the back of the GS Class field for the start of the race, meaning Spaude would have to pick his way through the field to get back to the front of the pack.

As the race unfolded Spaude kept the car in the front of the pack and ran comparable lap times to the leading Ford Mustangs. He brought in a clean car for co-driver Andrew Aquilante to drive to the finish but during Aquilante's stint an engine issue caused the team to retire from the race leading to a nineteenth place finish that no one expected. Spaude remained optimistic when talking about looking ahead. The team has come a long way this season, and with continued hardwork, he believes the team will contend in every race very soon.

"Our Subaru WRX- STI was awesome" Spaude emphasized! "We unloaded Thursday with a strong car and were fifth fastest at one point during the test day. Since we had done a lot of testing there this year we were pretty confident. The car was a bit on the loose side for qualifying but we managed a Top-3 run out of it. Unfortunately, we were outside the boost parameters and had to start in the rear of the field. Within forty-five minutes we were up to fifth. Our car was the best car on the track by far. We were looking good for a great Top-3 finish when an oil supply line broke and leaked the engine oil over the headers which caused small fire. This basically ended our great run early. The Continental Tire Race on Friday was not broadcasted live on SPEED, and it will be aired July 30th at 3pm. Our Subaru will be receiving a lot of coverage since we had three on-board cameras in the car!"
After the stop at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the Subaru Road Racing Team is 19th in the Team Championship Points Standings for the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series.

The next scheduled race for Bret will be the EMCO Gears Classic September 17th on the 2.258-mile, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH. This race can be on SPEED Channel on September 25th at 12pm. All Times Eastern.

Additional information on Bret Spaude can be found at www.bretspaude.com, www.subaruroadracingteam.com, www.p1groupe.com, and www.andreameadcross.com.

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