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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">AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">27/06/2004</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Competition Debut Confirm’s Lamborghini’s Massive Potential</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Murciélago R-GT Looking Good</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/lamborghini-5-midohio-p2-04.jpg"></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>Competition Debut Confirm’s Lamborghini’s Massive Potential</B><BR> <BR> The all-new Krohn-Barbour Racing team gave one of the world’s most glamorous sports car marques, Lamborghini, a promising competition debut in today’s timed qualifying for round two of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. <BR> <BR> Krohn-Barbour Racing’s Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT, driven by sports car stars David Brabham and Peter Kox, goes to the start of Sunday’s 2-hour 45-minute race after running faultlessly in today’s (Saturday’s) timed track session and Friday’s non-competitive test runs. In long-distance sports car racing, reliability is often as important as pace. <BR> <BR> Team manager Dick Barbour, successful since the late-1970s as both a sports car team owner and driver, said: “The Lamborghini is completely new, straight-out-of-the box, yet it’s given us no problems at all. That’s a great start, because the more uninterrupted track time we can get with the car, the more we can learn about how to set it up for optimum performance.” <BR> <BR> The number five Lamborghini of Brabham and Kox lapped the twisting 2.25-mile Mid-Ohio track in 1min 21.695 sec, at an average speed of 99.5mph, putting it fifth among the GTS class runners. The class-leading Corvette turned a best time of 1min 18.622 sec. <BR> <BR> Barbour said: “We’re not as fast as the class-leaders, but at this stage in the game we didn’t expect to be. The Corvette’s been racing for five years, the Lamborghini has raced only once [in an FIA GT race in Valencia, Spain, this April]. But every time we run the car we take another step forward.”<BR> <BR> Krohn-Barbour Racing’s second Lamborghini race car, driven by team co-founder Tracy Krohn and Canadian Scott Maxwell, was unable to participate in today’s timed qualifying because of accident damage sustained Friday. Just ten minutes before the end of a 90-minute test session, with Krohn at the wheel, the number six Lamborghini ran wide through a turn, bumping along the curbs at the circuit’s edge; as Krohn steered the car back towards the ideal ‘racing line’, it was hit hard by a following Porsche 911 GT3. Both cars half-spun to a halt. The blow taken by the Lamborghini was severe enough to damage its right rear suspension and chassis. The car will miss tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) race and probably also next weekend’s (July 2-5) third round of the ALMS at Lime Rock, Connecticut. <BR> <BR> Krohn, who escaped the impact unhurt, shrugged it off: “It’s disappointing, but this kind of thing happens in racing. A photographer who saw the collision said he knew it was the team owner in the car when I got out and started picking up all the pieces!” <BR> <BR> On a more serious note, Krohn said later: “I’m quite new to racing, but I know what it takes to win in business, and racing’s no different. We’ve gathered the best people we can and we’ve made a serious commitment with this team. There’s a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re not afraid of that.” <BR> <BR> Kox commented: “If we were slower than the class leaders but didn’t know how to improve the car, we’d have a problem. But we have lots of ideas how to go faster, which really encourages us.” <BR> <BR> Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, Brabham said: “At the moment we’re just throwing what we can at the car [in suspension set-up] to see what it does. Every time we go out there we learn something. With a car this new, we’ll be happy to reach the finish.” <BR> <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>