Dallara
   
   

 


Hot News & Press from Doran Racing

Doran Racing's Crown Royal Special Reserve No. 77
Qualifies Fourth for Tomorrow's Rolex Series Season Finale


MEXICO CITY, Mexico, Nov. 4 - Matteo Bobbi put Doran Racing's Crown Royal
Special Reserve DORAN JE4 Ford No. 77 on the outside of row two for tomorrow's
Rolex series season finale at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez during qualifying in
Mexico City Friday.

Bobbi's fastest lap was his fifth and final lap in the session, which was
clocked at 1:46.174 for an average speed of 94.464 miles per hour for the
2.786-mile road course.

He initially topped the charts with his first lap of 1:46.684 (94.013 mph),
and then a yellow flag slowed the session. When it resumed he went even faster,
and at the end of the session only three other cars had bettered his
performance.  The pole went to the Finlay Motorsports No. 19 of Michael McDowell and
Memo Gidley, which was just 1.210 seconds faster than the Crown Royal No. 77. 

The team of Scott Pruett/Luis Diaz was second.  Bobbi will line up beside the
Michael Shank Racing No. 6 of Ken Wilden and Mike Borkowski in row two for
the start of tomorrow's race.  After he completes his stint he'll turn the DORAN
JE4 Ford over to co-driver Fabrizio Gollin for the finish.

"At the beginning we were on the pole, and then the session was
black-flagged," Bobbi said.  "We made a mistake with the tire pressure, but fourth is still
very good.  We're happy with the balance of the car and we have some new
things for this race, so we're really looking forward to tomorrow.  We improved a
lot from the free practice.  We are happy."

Doran Racing recorded the eighth-fastest time in the first practice session
on Friday morning, running a 1:47.247 for an average speed of 93.519 mph. It
was 12th in the second practice session Friday with a 1:47.505 (93.691 mph).

"The track is really nice," Bobbi added.  "It's like a European track.  The
atmosphere is very nice; I love the place. We'll see what happens tomorrow."

There is a 45-minute practice session at 8 a.m. tomorrow and an autograph
session at 11 a.m. before the recon laps are held at 2:40 p.m., 20 minutes before
the green flag is scheduled to drop.

The 250-mile/90-lap/two-hour-and-45-minute Rolex series race is scheduled to
be broadcast live on SPEED at 4 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon. It is being held
in conjunction with the Champ Car World Series season finale on Sunday.

For more information please see doranracing.com and crownroyal.com. The
drivers' Web sites are at Matteobobbi.com and fabriziogollin.com.

Other interesting information can be found at grandamerican.com, speedtv.com
and restartcommunications.com.

Tomorrow's race is the last of the 14-race 2005 season.  The series banquet
is slated for Nov. 30 in Orlando, Fla.  There is testing planned at
Homestead-Miami Speedway Dec. 5-6.  The traditional Daytona test days are Jan. 4-7, 2006,
with the Rolex 24 at Daytona following on Jan. 26-29.

 
powered by cyberspeed