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Hot News & Press from Doran Racing

Doran Racing's Lista and Lista Office Maserati
Finishes Second in GT1 Class
In Saturday's Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta


BRASELTON, Ga., Oct. 6 - Doran Racing and drivers Didier Theys, Fredy
Lienhard and Andrea Bertolini finished second in the GT1 class in the 1,000-mile 10th
anniversary Petit Le Mans American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race with their
Lista and Lista Office Maserati MC12 No. 27.

It was Theys' and Lienhard's second podium finish in this race in as many
years in two different classes.  They finished third in the LMP2 class in this
race last year.

This was only the second race ever for their Maserati, which has now been on
the podium both times. 

The effort also gave Maserati its best finish ever in this series, and team
owner Kevin Doran was awarded an IMSA Cup for fielding the class's top
privateer entry.

The team's remarkable performance here actually began on Friday when
Bertolini, of Castellarano, Reggio Emilia, Italy, won the class pole over the factory
Corvettes.  That took just 1:17.42. 

Saturday's race took 9 hours and 19 minutes. The Maserati almost made it to
the end, but it was forced to retire with 8 hours and 36 minutes complete when
an unknown mechanical problem put Bertolini into the outside frontstretch wall
as he was working the car's 315th lap of the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course. 
Luckily he wasn't hurt in the crash, which damaged the car's left side.

Completing 314 laps more than met the series' rule that an entry must
complete 70 percent of the distance achieved by the overall winner, which was 394
laps this year, to earn a podium finish and prize money. Both were assured for
the No. 27 when it completed lap 276. It ended up 19th in the overall race
results for the 30-car, four-class field.

The team's only other real problem all day occurred 27 minutes before the
accident when a water hose let go while the car was 12th overall.  Bertolini got
to the pits under his own power, and Doran directed the car back to the
transporter for repairs. The hard-working Lebanon, Ohio-based crew had the problem
diagnosed and repaired in about 17 minutes.

Bertolini set the car's fastest lap of the race, a 1:18.031, on the car's
303rd lap, five laps before the water hose problem.

The team ran in second place in class for all but 15 minutes of the race. Jan
Magnussen passed Theys for the class lead on the first lap to push him to
second, and Oliver Gavin got by four minutes later to push him to third.  Just 20
minutes were in the books when Magnussen's Corvette slammed into a tire
barrier off the esses after contact with Bryan Herta's Acura.  Luckily Magnussen
wasn't hurt, but his Corvette was retired shortly thereafter. The Maserati
remained in second place in class the rest of the day.

After Theys, of Scottsdale, Ariz., started the race, Lienhard, of
Niederteufen, Switzerland, took over. Bertolini drove next.  Theys then got in again,
with the rest of the rotation being Bertolini, Lienhard, Theys and Bertolini at
the end. The entry was 12th overall before the six-hour mark, and it remained
in that position until the very end. The team had achieved a comfortable set-up
for the race, and all three drivers ran consistently fast. Until the end the
drivers' day was remarkably incident- and problem-free, with the only request
being more ice during pitstops due to Georgia's 85-degree heat and high
humidity.

SPEED covered parts of the race live.

Lista's Web site is at listaintl.com.  Lista Office's Web site is at
lista-office.com. Doran Racing's Web site is at doranracing.com. The series' Web sites
are at americanlemans.com and imsaracing.net. The track's Web site is at
roadatlanta.com.  Information on Maserati can be found at both maserati.com and
maseraticorse.com.

Driver quotes follow:

Didier Theys: "I had zero incidents, and I had no problems at all with the
car.  The gearbox was perfect, and the Michelin tires were excellent as always. 
The team did a very good job. It was just hot, hot, hot.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't finish, but I'm happy we're on the podium."

Fredy Lienhard:  "I'm never completely satisfied with my performance, but I
feel I did well.  I need to do more physical training.  But other than that, I
was in the car two times, and I had a good experience.  The difference in
speed in the classes is a problem here.  I let the faster cars by because I didn't
want to have any incidents.  We were running for second anyway.

"I have known for years that Didier is a great driver, but this was our first
time working with Andrea and he did a great job too.  I feel sorry for him
because it wasn't his mistake. Until you have an accident like the one he had
today, you sometimes forget how fast you're really going.

"I'm very happy with the team and the drivers.  They all did a fantastic job.
 That's why I'm not upset.  For me, this experience is something that money
can't buy."

Andrea Bertolini: "We really don't know what happened to cause the accident. 
We're looking into several possible reasons.

"The only other incident I had was once early in the race when I came around
a turn and the track was blocked by three cars that had crashed.  I went off
in the grass to get around them, and we weren't involved.  That happened in
Corner 7.

"You have to have maximum concentration here, especially when overtaking the
slower cars.

"Our car was good all day; we had good balance."

 
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