Road America

ELKHART LAKE, WI August 21, 2010 – After yesterday’s torrential rain and high winds, today’s qualifying at Road America was dry and sunny: good weather for Dyson quick times. Guy Smith qualified the #16 Castrol Mazda Lola second, a second and a half quicker than car’s best practice time. Last year, Dyson Racing won the LMP2 pole here, the first for Mazda, and two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio, the team won overall, also a first for the Mazda program.

“That tells the story of our progress,” said Chris Dyson. “Everyone on the team and all of our partners have been persistently pushing and these milestones bookend the program’s’ advancement. It is gratifying when the results confirm the effort everyone has been putting into making this a winning program.”

After qualifying, Guy Smith noted that “our competition this year has been the Porsche and the Acura, and in qualifying, we were comfortably ahead of them. In the same fashion as Mid-Ohio, we have been methodically working through each part of the car this weekend – the tires, the engine, the chassis and the gearing. I think we have a really good race car and that is what is important.” Smith first raced at Road America in 2004 in a ChampCar and set the fastest race lap in the 2006 ALMS race in his first full year with Dyson Racing.

Road America is celebrating its 55th year of racing and is one of the few road circuits that retain its original configuration. “Road America is an interesting track,” affirmed Dyson. “It is known for its long straights – so power is important but probably the most important element of a lap time around here is getting the car slowed down and being able to put the power down. This track has a lot of very technical corners connected by long straights I think the race tomorrow is going to be a very well balanced contest. You have the LMP cars which have top end speed advantages but are not as nimble in the corners, and at the other end of the spectrum, you have the Porsche RS Spyder which is running at a lighter weight. Our car blends elements of both, so I think we should be in a very good position. We have always done well here, so hopefully Guy and I will be able to give Rob another champagne shower!”

Round seven of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron starts at 2:05 P.M. CT tomorrow. SPEED will air the race live at 3:00 P.M. ET. Live radio coverage will be on ALMS Radio and Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242.