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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">GRAND AMERICAN ROAD RACING ASSOCIATION</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">18/06/2004</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">SunTrust Racing Goes Four For Four </FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Pontiac Riley A Friday Car</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"><B>SunTrust Racing Goes Four For Four On Fridays In Watkins Glen Practice</B><BR> <BR> There’s something about Friday practice sessions that draws the best out of the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley and drivers Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, which proved to be the case again today in practice for Sunday’s Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.<BR> <BR> For the fourth consecutive Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series Friday practice session today at Watkins Glen International, the No. 10 machine found its way to the top of the speed charts following a best lap at 115.658 mph (1:45.829) by Angelelli nearly two full seconds quicker than his next closest competitor.<BR> <BR> "I’m happy with the car, and I like the track,” Angelelli said. “I’ve never been here before and I really enjoy driving here. It’s an outstanding circuit. It’s really, really something. It reminds me a bit of the old Zelteweg in Austria. We have had a couple little problems but nothing major. I love this circuit. I just want to keep driving out there."<BR> <BR> Second-quickest on the day was Scott Pruett in the No. 01 CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley at 113.632 mph (1:47.716) despite the fact that he wasn’t completely pleased with the car. However, while the No. 10 has been the quickest for four consecutive Fridays, Pruett and co-driver Max Papis will be going for its fifth straight pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session.<BR> <BR> “I wasn't happy with the first session,” Pruett explained. “I believe what we have now is a better setup. The first setup wasn't suited for the track, but it's better now. We're down a session. Max is going to qualify, and it will be better tomorrow.”<BR> <BR> Turning in the third-quickest time in Friday’s practice session was Andy Wallace in the No. 2 CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford at 113.259 mph (1:48.071). Wallace and co-drivers Milka Duno and Jan Lammers are looking for their second win of the season, and Wallace couldn’t think of a better track to do just that.<BR> <BR> ““It’s always great to come to Watkins Glen, because it’s one of those tracks that’s got all that history,” Wallace said. “When I was a little kid in short pants, Formula 1 were here, and I used to read about it all the time. I’ve had a fair bit of success here, I won the six-hour race here a couple years back. It’s one of my favourite tracks, actually. It’s very high speed, the corners are quite technical in places, and what I do like is—whenever they put a chicane in to slow a track down like they did on the backstraight, they make such a pig’s ear of it that it’s horrible. But they’ve done such a great job with that chicane (at Watkins Glen). They said, ‘okay, we need a chicane to slow the cars down,’ but they didn’t make it too slow. You can hammer through there, and it’s a good overtaking spot. Whoever designed that needs a pat on the back.”<BR> <BR> Today’s practice sessions also featured the return of Mears Motorcoach/SpeedSource, as the team debuted its new No. 9 Pontiac Riley after sitting out the 6 Heures du Circuit Mont-Tremblant. The team campaigned a Multimatic chassis for the first three events of the 2004 season, and owner/driver Paul Mears was pleased with the new car’s performance. The No. 9 team turned the sixth-quickest lap of the day at 112.747 mph (1:48.562).<BR> <BR> “The new car is wonderful,” Mears said. “I’m just tickled pink with it. We tested the car for a day and a half last week at Virginia International Raceway. We didn’t change anything there. The car was right as soon as we took the wrapper off it. I think if we do our job and keep it on the race track, we’re going to be real competitive. The car is solid; it’s performing with the top cars. It’s just a few tenths off. We haven’t touched the car; it’s just the way we got it. I think the car’s going to be real competitive.”<BR> <BR> The day’s only major incident involving a Daytona Prototype machine came in the afternoon practice session, when Doug Goad damaged the nose of the No. 09 Spirit of Daytona Racing Pontiac Crawford in contact with the barrier at Turn 11. Goad was not injured.<BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>