Derek Johnston loses ground in the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco as a mysterious fire halts potential success in race two whilst fighting for the lead.

June 8, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Derek Johnston loses ground in the Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco as a mysterious fire halts potential success in race two whilst fighting for the lead.

Derek Johnston, with co-driver Stuart Moseley, was looking good for his 5th consecutive win (they won the Saturday race) at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit last weekend when disaster struck. A strange fire ground his amazing streak of wins to a halt and consequently dropped him from first to second in the Driver standings. Top scorer for the Radical racers in the Driver Challenge at Brands was the fast Ben Jackson, who collected two second places and 40 points for two pole positions. Rob Garofall and Richard Bernans in the SPEED Sports Prototype Series, who finished second at SPA elevated themselves from second in the standings to top position without even putting on their helmets! Their next race will be at Assen in Holland 11th of July so they are likely to sit tight on the throne until then. British F3 is not racing again until July and Alan Simonsen will miss this weekend’s British GT meeting at Knockhill in favour of racing at Le Mans, which will damage his chances.

The Cooper Tires British F3 International Series "enjoyed" a blustery weekend at Hockenheim which put all drivers through wet and dry conditions. Maybe familiarity with Hockenheim enabled both Renger van der Zande and Walter Grubmüller racing for Hitech Racing to be the pace-setters all weekend. However, in the first F3 race, super-sonic Viking, Marcus Ericsson, rocketed away from the start line and led by the first corner and from there won in relative comfort, 1.188 seconds ahead of Renger (who took fastest lap) with Walter claiming the last step on the podium. For the second race Walter starting from pole safely avoided all chaos behind and took a much appreciated win for Hitech Racing and the nomination as the Sunoco Driver of the weekend for his weekend achievements (he was also the top Driver Challenge point scorer with 190 points). Whilst Walter looked cool and composed in the lead Nick Tandy was like a raging lion, posting fastest lap whilst advancing through the field from 10th up to 4th before "missing" part of the track having to do all the work again, posting fastest lap after fastest lap before finally having to settle for 6th overall.

The Avon Tyres British GT Championship is racing at Knockhill this weekend, but with several new faces coming in to replace those who will be racing at Le Mans, the points positions are unlikely to change too much.

For additional information:

Jeremy Lord

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Anglo American Oil Company Ltd

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Telephone: +44 1929 551557

The Rolex 24 At Daytona Driver Challenge presented by Sunoco is a driver challenge between Sunoco-fuelled series in Europe and the UK. During 2009 the drivers in the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series, the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, the Radical UK Cup and the SPEED sports prototype series will go head-to-head against each other throughout the year collecting points for pole position, race results and fastest lap.

The highest point scorer at the end of the season will win a race-drive in a Daytona Prototype at the 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona ® in a top team and race against the best sports cars racers in the world. The winner will also participate in a 3-day pre-season test session at the Daytona race track in January and become the ambassador for Grand AM and Sunoco in Europe. This amazing prize will give the winner of the Driver Challenge a great chance to not only to race in a top team in one of the iconic 24-hour races in the world but also to win the race.