Krohn Racing / TRG Wins Phoenix
TRG Makes History Sweeping the Weekend, Winning DP and GT
Krohn Racing / TRG drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Jörg Bergmeister overcame early race adversity to win the Grand American Rolex Series Phoenix 250 on Saturday evening. Team-mates Max Papis and Nic Jönsson retired early with engine woes.

TRG and Krohn Racing / TRG made the record books by becoming the first team in Grand American history to win both the GT and Daytona Prototype classes on the same weekend.

Starting from his sixth place qualifying position, Jörg Bergmeister went into turn one at the start and had contact resulting in the nose of the number 66 Krohn Racing / TRG / Pontiac Riley being torn off. The German had to pit on lap two for a replacement. He returned to the fight in seventeenth place. With his work cutout, Bergmeister fought back to ninth place to hand over to co-driver Christian Fittipaldi on lap 61.

Once the pit stops cycled through, the Brazilian found himself in fourth place. The team decided to pit Christian again, under yellow, only 14 laps later to top off the tank and put on a new set of Hoosier tires. He returned in seventh place and began his march to the front. With the help of some rough driving in front of him Fittipaldi took the lead on lap 124 and began to walk away from the field, to post the second victory for the team and the first for the number 66 car.

The number 67 Krohn Racing / TRG car had a difficult race. Max Papis started the car from his fourth place qualifying position and on lap ten reported an engine miss. On lap 61 he pitted for a new nose and turned the car over to Nic Jönsson. The team attempted to fix the miss. Jönsson returned to the race only have to retire five laps later with a fire in the engine bay.

The team will donate the winnings for the race to the The Red Cross in the name of Krohn Racing / TRG in support of Hurricane Katrina relief.

Christian Fittipaldi, #66 / Krohn Racing / TRG / Pontiac Riley: “Everyone was trying to win the race on the restarts. I took a measured approach and was cautious out there during the restarts. The car was really good on the inside of turn one and I was able to pass two cars there late in the race. I was able to run low 58-second lap times but backed off with about 10 to go to bring it home. Everyone was loose out there, but my car was fast that way.”

Jörg Bergmeister, #66 / Krohn Racing / TRG / Pontiac Riley: “When I went into turn one at the start, someone tried to push me into the curb and then came across my nose and took it off. I had to pit and the team did a good job to replace it and get me out without loosing a lap. I was able to come back and turn it over to Christian in P5. Christian did a great job to avoid the trouble and keep the car under him to the finish. The race really came back to us.”

Max Papis, #67 / Krohn Racing / TRG / Pontiac Riley: “The car started missing down the straight 15 laps into the race. I had a back marker move down on me and put a big hole in my nose and we had to pit and replace it. With the engine down on power it was hard to be competitive and make moves on this tight track. I am glad that Nic was able to get out ok when we had the engine compartment fire.”

Nic Jönsson, #67 / Krohn Racing TRG / Pontiac Riley: “The engine was down two-cylinders when I got in, but with a lot of cars going out we wanted to keep going. I was in the braking zone of the hairpin when I saw flames come into the cockpit. I got out as fast I could, it was reminiscent of Daytona.”

Kevin Buckler, team co-owner: "A great effort by the 66 guys. We had some diversity early, but were able to preserver and take the win. We had a meeting before the race and wanted to win it for Tracy. We will be forwarding our winnings to the Red Cross in the name of Hurricane Katrina relief. The 67 car had a tough day. TRG ruled the weekend in both GT and DP, a dream come true.”

TRG Pontiac GTO.R Wins Phoenix GT
TRG drivers Paul Edwards and Jan Magnussen posted their second victory for the new Pontiac GTO.R in round eleven of the Grand American Rolex Series race run at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday evening. Team-mates Marc Bunting and Andy Lally, driving the number 65/TRG/Pontiac GTO.R, came home in fourth.

Under the lights at the desert oval, Paul Edwards started his GTO.R from the pole position for the two-hour-and-forty-five minute race. He was able to lead early until dropping to second briefly on lap 27. The young Californian was able to manage his tires and get back by on lap 48 to resume the lead. On lap 80 he pitted and turned the wheel over to Magnussen. The Dane left the pits some 10-seconds down to the new leader. On lap 101 he was able to pass for the lead and never looked back.

Marc Bunting started the number 65 car from the fourth row and maintained a steady pace before handing off to Andy Lally on lap 65. The car returned to the battle one lap down and stayed there, eventually finishing in fourth. The finish only improved the duo’s points standing position by two, leaving more work to do for the season ending championship.

Paul Edwards, #64 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “I started the race on the tires that I qualified on, everyone else was on stickers. I ran them pretty hard early on and then wanted to cool them down. I think stickers at the start would have been a better call. I got caught in traffic and that put me to second for a few laps before I could get back by. Once I got by and was in clean air and had clear track I could focus on consistent lap times.”

Jan Magnussen, #64 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “Paul did a good job to deliver the car to me in the lead. We fell out of the lead for a while as the pit stops shuffled. I was able to run fast laps on the new tires and catch the 21 car for the lead. The race ran without a caution so the field was really spread out, this made it very easy to run fast times. The car was really setup well, it was easy on tires and nice to drive. It is nice to win one by not lucking into it off of some other team’s strategy mistake.”

Marc Bunting, #65 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “I had a good run. I wanted to conserve my tires at the beginning, but I think I did a little too much. The race ran without any caution periods to bunch the field back up so Andy could not get us back into contention. We made up only two points on the championship so that puts some added pressure on us for the next three races.”

Andy Lally, #65 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “Half way into my stint the Corvette dropped all kinds of oil in turn one. I went through there and got sideways and was able to gather it up. That was about the only excitement in my stint. The car was real good, I needed a caution or two to get us closer to the front.”

Kevin Buckler, TRG team owner: “Phoenix turned out to be a good track for the car. The oval wasn’t quite long enough to harm us with our restricted motor. The lack of grip on the track I think actually favored our car. Both crews and drivers did a great job to get the cars setup for this circuit. The second win for the 64 car and the 65 car is still in the championship hunt, a good day!”