Sheehan Again Pilots Audi in Watkins Glen Grand-Am Cup

Martinez, Calif. – Following up on his stellar debut performance in last month’s Mont-Tremblant 250, former U.S. Touring Car Championship driver Gary Sheehan will again pilot the Audi S4 of Istook-Aines Motorsports in the Grand-Am Cup The Glen 250, June 19, 2004. Sheehan will be looking to build upon his highly successful debut, which saw him qualify the No. 4 Audi S4 on the front row, set a new GS lap record at Le Circuit de Mont Tremblant and lead the first 14 laps of the race; this also places him among the top 10 drivers in laps led for the season.

The Audi S4 Quattro prepared by Istook-Aines Motorsports is a racecar that Sheehan particularly likes to drive, given his considerable experience racing turbocharged, all-wheel drive touring cars: He previously campaigned an all-wheel drive Subaru WRX, achieving multiple race-wins in the U.S. Touring Car Championship during the 2001-2003 seasons. Adding to the degree of familiarity, the Audi is set up with StopTech’s Balanced Brake System™, which Sheehan has used exclusively in recent years.

For The Glen 250 event, Gary will be teamed with Istook-Aines standout Anders Hainer. Although Sheehan is very experienced at many tracks throughout the US and Canada, this will be his first outing at the venerable Watkins Glen, and he looks forward to learning the track and its subtleties.

“I am very happy to be back in the Istook-Aines Audi again for my second Grand-Am Cup race”, Sheehan said. “Mont-Tremblant was a dream come true, and I want to take that momentum with me to The Glen. The team and I work very well together, and I think we have a good shot at a podium finish. Anders (Hainer) is a very quick driver, and I’m looking forward to sharing the car with him.”

The Grand-Am Cup is the premier production car-based endurance racing series in North America. The field is made up of two classes: Sport Touring (ST) and Grand Sport (GS). GS is the more powerful class of the two and is filled with high-performance cars such as the BMW M3, Cadillac CTS-V, Nissan 350Z, Ford Mustang Cobra, Porsche 996 and Acura NSX.

The Glen 250 is scheduled to start at 2:00 pm eastern time on Saturday June 19, 2004. The Grand-Am Cup action kicks off with a first practice session on Friday June 18 at 1:00 pm, followed by a second Friday session at 3:35 pm. Qualifying for the 250-mile, 74-lap race commences at 11:30 am Saturday, prior to the race. Spectators will be treated to a full weekend of Grand-Am Cup and Rolex Series action during the weekend. The race will be broadcast by Speed Channel on Sunday, June 27th at 2:00pm (ET).

To follow live event timing, (practice, qualifying, and race), or for more information regarding the race schedule and Grand-Am, visit the Grand American Road Racing website at www.grand-am.com.