AWD Subarus set for World Challenge at Watkins Glen
- Subaru Impreza in Touring, Legacy WRX in Touring Car 2
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Phoenixville, PA – July 3, 2009
Encouraged by a strengthened impetus to make the SCCA
Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car class
thrive, Phoenix Performance has committed to enter a
pair of Subaru race cars in Saturday’s World Challenge
race at the world-famous Watkins Glen International
circuit, where their series joins the Indy Racing League
event.
Twenty-one-year old Andrew Aquilante, Chester Springs,
Pa., a SCCA National Champion, for the third time this
year, will race the team’s Subaru Impreza WRX in the
Touring Car class.
Aquilante and his Subaru finished eighth in their debut
at Sebring International Raceway and third at New Jersey
Motorsports Park.
“The WCVision group of team owners, who took over the
marketing responsibility for the World Challenge series,
has worked with the Sports Car Club of America to create
a new T2 class for cars not prepared as extensively as
the Touring class,” said team owner Joe Aquilante.
“Our group also races a Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B
performance sedan in another series,” he added. “We have
a spare car which converts to the new T2 class
specifications with very little work, and we have a
multi-time SCCA champion to drive it.”
Behind the wheel of the #32 Legacy will be John Heinricy,
Royal Oak, Mich., whose 11 SCCA National Championships
tally is the highest among all active SCCA drivers. Ten
of the 11 wins are in cars prepared by divisions of Joe
Aquilante’s race car preparation company.
The Watkins Glen World Challenge race will be the 241st
professional race of Heinricy’s career. He has won 40 of
those races, an amazing 16%. Among them are four 24-hour
races at Watkins Glen between 1987-92, and shared
three-hour race wins at WGI in 1993 and 1997.
“From the Subaru production line, both the Legacy 2.5GT
and the Impreza WRX use the same basic 2.5 liter,
turbocharged ‘boxer’ engine,” said Aquilante. “And both
use the Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive System.”
“The visual difference between the two cars is that the
Impreza WRX is a five-door model, and the Legacy is a
four-door sedan,” added James Han, motorsports marketing
manager for Subaru of America. “The biggest change for
the Legacy will be minor chassis adjustments to
accommodate the Toyo tires required in this series.”
In the team’s last outing with the Legacy and the
Impreza on the same track the same weekend, but in
different series, the Impreza was two seconds a lap
quicker than the Legacy, Andrew Aquilante pointed out.
“That was because of the differences in rules, including
those affecting turbo boost, and tires,” said Andrew
Aquilante.
“The Impreza finished third in its most recent World
Challenge race, so we’re coming to The Glen with the
belief we can win. And we’re anxious to see how the
Legacy does in the T-2 class.”
The Watkins Glen race, which takes the green flag
Saturday, July 4 at 6pm, will be held on the track’s
3.4-mile, 11-turn road course, as was the recent race.
Sponsors for the Phoenix
Performance Subaru Impreza WRX include Rockland Standard
Gear, Automotive Racing Products, Hawk Brakes, VAC
Motorsports, Quarter Master, Ecutek, Racing Radios,
Lista, Rotary Lifts, Cusco, Carbonetic, Mac Tools, Hella,
Perrin, and Vedalo HD.
About Phoenix Performance
Phoenix Performance, Inc. is owned
and managed by Joe Aquilante and is located in a 32,000
sq. ft. facility in Phoenixville, Pa., 40 miles west of
Philadelphia, PA. Team driver Andrew Aquilante races a
Subaru Impreza WRX in the SCCA SPEED World Challenge T2
series. Andrew can be reached by email at
ajavette37@comcast.net
and on his website,
www.andrewaquilante.com.
For more information about the team and the cars, call
Joe Aquilante at (610) 482-0141, by email at
JFAPhoenix32@aol.com,
or visit –
http://www.phoenixperformanceinc.com.