Rolex Sports Car Series 250 at Road America Preview

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (June 21, 2011) – When it comes to the uncertainties of competing on a racetrack for the very first time, the SunTrust Racing driving duo of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor have just one thing to say: “Bring it on!”

Rolex Sports Car Series 250 at Road America Preview

For Immediate Release
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ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (June 21, 2011) – When it comes to the uncertainties of competing on a racetrack for the very first time, the SunTrust Racing driving duo of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor have just one thing to say: “Bring it on!”

The winners of the last two GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series races at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International head to historic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., for the first time this weekend while the Rolex Series is racing there for the first time since 2001. And, as Angelelli and Taylor look to give SunTrust its first three-race winning streak since it joined the Rolex Series in 2004, they know full well that the No. 10 racing machine has earned quite a few first-place trophies and a whole host of podium finishes in its inaugural seasons on a vast array of racetracks.

Just last year, when the Rolex Series added Lime Rock to its Daytona Prototype-class schedule, Angelelli and Taylor scored a thoroughly dominating win, marking the fifth time the SunTrust team had snatched the top spot on the podium in its first year at a new track. In 2007, when the Rolex Series visited Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the first time, Angelelli and his then-co-driver Jan Magnussen were victorious. Add to that a trio of race wins during SunTrust’s inaugural 2004 Rolex Series season – Phoenix International Raceway in April, Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July, and in October at Virginia International Raceway in Alton – and it’s clear the SunTrust team is blessed either with a heaping helping of beginner’s luck, or a huge penchant for learning new tracks more quickly than most.

Six other times, the SunTrust team earned podium finishes in its first-year runs at a racetrack – second at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville in 2008, second at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2005, second at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., in 2004, second in the September 2004 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, second in the 2004 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, and third in the August 2004 sprint race at Watkins Glen.

The beautiful setting for Saturday’s two-hour Rolex Sports Car Series 250 Driven by Visit Florida – the prelude to that afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Bucyrus 200 – is one of the oldest racetracks in America. The 4-mile, 14-turn circuit, with its long straightaways, challenging mix of slow- and high-speed corners, and its Old World charm, has been hosting the biggest names in road racing from around the world since 1955. Even NASCAR’s Grand National Series, as it was known then, last raced there in 1956 before returning after a 54-year hiatus with its Nationwide Series in 2010, and it put on quite a show.

Having previously raced at Road America once each, Angelelli, the veteran Italian, and Taylor, the 21-year-old mechanical engineering major from the University of Central Florida, know what’s in store for them this weekend. Angelelli started third and finished fifth for Team Cadillac in a 2004 SCCA World Challenge race. Taylor ran a pair of races during a 2007 Skip Barber National Series weekend, winning the first and retiring from the second with mechanical issues.

While it will be their first time on the historic layout in the No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing, both drivers agree it is eerily similar to the Watkins Glen long course, where Angelelli and Taylor thoroughly dominated for six solid hours at Watkins Glen three weekends ago, starting from the pole and leading a race-high 128 of 174 laps en route to their second consecutive victory.

It was only the third time SunTrust has scored back-to-back Rolex Series wins, the last two coming during Angelelli and team owner Wayne Taylor’s championship run in 2005. Angelelli and Ricky Taylor are counting on Saturday’s first-ever race at Road America to be a first in yet another sense for the SunTrust team – the place where it achieves its first-ever three-race winning streak.

Practice for Saturday’s Rolex Sports Car Series 250 begins Thursday afternoon with qualifying set for 3:35 p.m. EDT Friday. Race time for the two-hour event is noon Saturday with live television coverage provided by SPEED, and live radio coverage beginning at 11:45 a.m. on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Channel 94. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and now on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com.

Max Angelelli, Co-Driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Chevrolet Dallara:

What is your outlook heading to Road America after back-to-back wins at Lime Rock and Watkins Glen?

“It’s been good to have a couple of weeks off to enjoy the wins. I wanted so badly to be able to race head-to-head with the 01 (Ganassi) car. I’ve always felt that we’ve had everything in place to do so, but now it looks like we’ve got it right. We made no little mistakes the last two races. When everything works like that, you perform well and you win. Now, we need to keep the momentum going. Road America is fast, more or less, based on my one race there in the SCCA World Challenge Series in 2004. I have some memories of a couple of corners, but not many. On paper, it’s going to be good for our car. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s more or less the same type of track as Watkins Glen. It’s definitely European in style. Our car this year has suited all the tracks. It’s not like that it’s only good at some tracks.”

After watching the Ganassi team win race after race the last year and a half, how does it feel to have a streak of your own?

“In a sense, it’s safe to say we broke the Ganassi domination. We definitely did. But the question is, will we be able to maintain this level of performance or not? In my opinion, it’s difficult to win because the championship is very competitive. I feel that, yes, we will win again, but not every race. It’s really difficult. It’s still going to be between the 01 (Ganassi), the 10 (SunTrust) and the 99 (Gainsco) teams every single race for the win. Those three cars. The others we need to look out for are the 5 and the 9 (Action Express Racing) cars.”

Ricky Taylor, Co-Driver of the No. 10 S