Craig Stanton Gets Championship Boost Entering Laguna Seca

LONG BEACH, Calif., April 26, 2005 � Craig Stanton's 2005 championship hopes have been rekindled. Entering Sunday's Road & Track 250 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Long Beach, California-resident has been moved into second-place in the Grand Touring (GT) class. Due to a rules technicality, Stanton, who has two fourth-place finishes and a third in the first three races of the 2005 championship, had not been granted the points for his fourth-place finish in the second race of the season held at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March. However, Grand American Road Racing Association officials reviewed the situation and awarded the driver of the No. 80 Synergy Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup the 28 points for the Grand Prix of Miami. Combined with the 28 markers for his performance in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 30 for the third at California Speedway, Stanton now has 86 total points. The 2004 Grand-Am Cup GS class champion is only seven points out of a tie for first place. Stanton will be joined in the No. 80 by David Murry, Cumming, Ga., for Sunday's two hour and 45-minute sports car race at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Monterey-area facility. Murry is fifth in the current GT standings with 58 points. The longtime driving team is confident that, when coupled with a 100 pound weight reduction that the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup has been given entering this race, Laguna Seca will prove an excellent opportunity for the No. 80 to keep its top-five performances. Each driver has extensive experience in Porsches, as well as other race cars, on the beautiful, Northern California facility. Stanton has two top-five finishes in GT Porsches at the track including a podium performance in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS in 2003. Murry has two GT class wins driving a 911 at Laguna Seca ('98 and '99). The Synergy Porsche will roll onto the classic American road course Friday for practice. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday while the race will be run on Sunday. The Road & Track 250 can be seen live on SPEED at 3 pm (ET), Sunday, May 1. Live timing and scoring as well as audio of practice, qualifying and the race can be found at www.GrandAmerican.com . Quotes;Craig Stanton: About being awarded the points for Homestead-Miami: “I'm really excited that Grand American saw clear to give us our points back. That puts us back in second place. If we can keep plugging along and getting podiums and top-five finishes, that will work to our favor at the end of the year. Every point counts because it is so competitive.” About racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca: “I always look forward to coming to Laguna. It's a challenging track; you're never on a straightaway. Traffic is going to be an issue with the DPs and we'll be lapping the slower cars in GT pretty quickly. This will be a tough race with all the cars entered. There is going to reach a point in this race that, if you want to win, you are going to have to take the bit in your teeth and do what you have to do. You're going to have to drive hard, fast and smart to work the traffic.” About his expectations for Sunday's race: “The Synergy guys are really coming together. We have a few tricks up our sleeve that we are optimistic about. I was just up at Laguna recently and got a good setup to carry over to the race. We are working really hard. The platform that Grand American has put together is working very well, as you can see from the number and caliber of cars entered this weekend. We found a few things that we think will move us forward. We've been off 10 to 15 percent on our setup but with what we have found, David, Harry [Haggard, engineer] and I feel like we can nail it here at Laguna.”About the biggest challenge of this race: “I think traffic is an issue. It's going to be like a Saturday night, half-mile, short track race. You really have to protect the car for the last 15 laps so you have something that you can fight with at the finish.” For more on Craig Stanton please visit www.CraigStanton.com. To learn more about Glyco Max at www.GlycoMax.com. Information on Synergy Racing can be found at www.SynergyRacing.com. ###