SMYRNA, Ga. (June 30, 2004) – Team ADT Champion Racing will face its toughest track on the nine race, American Le Mans Series schedule.  The New England Grand Prix, July 2-5, will be run on the historic and scenic Lime Rock Park located in the rolling hills of Lakeville, CT.  This weekend will bring many firsts for the team as neither the team, nor the drivers and not even the Audi R8 “prototype” race car has seen this 1.54-mile circuit. 

The American Le Mans Series will be racing for the first time at historic Lime Rock Park, considered to be one of the classic North American road racing venues.  The race will be the 50th event to be held for the ALMS since the formation of the series in 1999.   Because of local ordinances, racing cannot be held at Lime Rock Park on Sundays, so the ALMS race will be held on the observed holiday of Independence Day, Monday, July 5.  The track will be the site of a holiday celebration, including a car show, on Sunday, July 4, the actual Independence Day.

The Lime Rock Park track is 1.54 miles long, the smallest circuit that the ALMS will visit in the 2004 season. "This will be such a different race for us," said Brad Kettler, Technical Director for Champion Racing.  “We’ve had very little time to prepare since our race last weekend and everything about this track will be different for us.  I know my team will rally and we’ll be at our best come Friday afternoon.”

The New England Grand Prix will be Round Three of the 2004 season for the ALMS and will include a two-hour, 45-minute timed event on Monday, July 5, starting at 3 p.m. (EDT).  The race will be televised live by SPEED Channel in North America and MotorsTV in Europe and will be broadcast live by the American Le Mans Series Radio Web online at www.americanlemans.com.  Ticket information for the Lime Rock event is available online at www.americanlemans.com or by calling 1-800-RACE-LRP.

Driver quotes:

JJ Lehto (Finland):  “This track will probably be our most difficult track of the year.  None of us have ever seen this track, not me, my teammate, the team and even the car.  Everything will be new to us.  Fortunately we learn new tracks very quickly as Marco proved last weekend at Mid-Ohio.”   

Marco Werner (Germany):  “Lime Rock is a small track which might suit the Dyson cars better than our Audi R8.  It’s also the home track for them and they did a lot of testing there already.  The set-up of our car will be important but we have a good base to build from.  We’ll do our best.  We have a good team, good drivers and most importantly, good teamwork.”