Subaru Factory
Team Racers Cross into Canada Intent on
Retaining Grand-Am KONI Series Lead
- Season’s Only Street Race is Crucial to
Phoenixville Team -
Phoenixville,
Pa. – Aug. 13, 2008
The five
Drivers’ Championship points lead held by
Subaru Road Racing Team co-drivers Chuck
Hemmingson and Kris Skavnes will be under
serious threat this weekend when the two
American road racing aces square off against
a field of competitors in the Street Tuner
class eager to make an impression at the
single street race of the 2008 Grand-Am KONI
schedule.
Round seven of
the KONI Challenge road racing series and
its most populous division, the trendy
Street Tuner cars, will be featured this
Saturday on the 1.52-mile Le Circuit
Trois-Rivières, Québec layout east of
Montreal.
Hemmingson,
West Des Moines, Ia., and teammate Skavnes,
Sparta, N.J., share a five-point lead over
two other competitors currently tied for 2nd
in Drivers’ points, currently making it a
three-way manufacturer battle.
The pair of
ICY/Phoenix Racing-prepared Subaru Legacy
2.5GT spec.B race cars have logged
consistent results this season, including
two race wins, which have attributed to the
team’s drivers of car #111 enjoying their
points lead in the KONI Challenge series
competition. Both Hemmingson and Skavnes
will be racing for the Subaru Road Racing
Team this weekend.
The second
Subaru (#141) will be raced by Andrew
Aquilante, Chester Springs, Pa., and David
Rosenblum, Langhorne, Pa. Rosenblum
partners Joe Aquilante in the ownership and
management of ICY/Phoenix Racing.
The much
anticipated race will, however, be the first
time that the team will have raced their
Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B cars on the
Trois-Rivières circuit.
“The layout at
Trois-Rivières is unique,” noted Skavnes.
“It’s part fairgrounds access roads, part
city streets, including the only turn on any
major track in the world where you make a
left turn traveling beneath a stone
municipal archway at an intersection.
Passing an equal competitor on this track
can be a multi-lap effort here, and if you
haven’t completed a pass in time, you’re now
rushing into the next 90-degree turn way too
fast.”
Noted James
Han, motorsports marketing manager for
Subaru of America, Inc., “Our team competed
a limited race schedule of six events in
2007. This year we’re working towards making
all 10, and we’ve had to learn how to best
apply the core strengths inherent in our
Subaru Legacy race cars to a variety of
course layouts -- ultra-fast places like
Daytona to closed public roads like
Trois-Rivières -- some of which we’ve never
run before in our cars. I’m pleased to see
how well the team has adapted and risen to
each challenge.”
Qualifying at
Trois-Rivières is Saturday at breakfast
time, with the one hour, 45 minute race
taking the green flag at 1:30pm.
The Subaru
Road Racing Team is
sponsored by Subaru of America, Inc., Subaru
Tecnica International (STI), Subaru
Performance Tuning (SPT), Subaru Indiana
Automotive, Inc. (SIA), Automotive Racing
Products, Lista, Rotary Lifts, JRZ, EcuTek,
Perrin, Cusco, Carbonetic, Hawk Brakes,
Quarter Master Industries, Disc Brakes
Australia, Freem, and Racing Radios.
The cars are prepared by ICY/Phoenix Racing.
About ICY/Phoenix Racing
Based in
Phoenixville, Pa., ICY/Phoenix is a
collaborative partnership between Dave
Rosenblum (ICY Racing) and Joe Aquilante
(Phoenix Performance) which has over 70
years of cumulative racing experience. This
organization represents the factory Subaru
effort as the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT)
in the 2008 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series.
The team's 4000 sq. ft. race shop is located
approximately 35 miles northwest of downtown
Philadelphia. Drivers Chuck Hemmingson, Dave
Rosenblum, Kristian Skavnes, Andrew
Aquilante and Don Knowles race two Legacy
2.5GT spec.B cars. Last season, ICY/Phoenix
celebrated a winning year, finishing the
season with one pole position and two ST
Class wins in six races. For more
information about the team and the cars, go
to www.icyphoenixracing.com or call Dave
Rosenblum at (215) 801-7827; or Joe
Aquilante at (610) 482-0141.