Audi of America Announced as Title Laguna Seca Sponsor

Source: Motorsport.com

MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 4, 2004) – Audi of America, Inc. will be the title sponsor of this month’s Audi Sports Car Championships (Oct. 15-17), featuring a doubleheader of season finales for North America’s two elite, world-class sports car series to close the 2004 race season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The fire-breathing Le Mans-style prototypes and GT cars of the American Le Mans Series will make history on Saturday, Oct. 16, when they’ll take the green flag at 4 p.m., then for the first time in the 47-year history of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, race into the darkness to the 8 p.m. checkered flag. The race will be shown tape-delayed on NBC the next day (Sunday, Oct. 17), from 1-3 p.m. PDT.

The SPEED Channel-sponsored World Challenge is comprised of both GT and Touring Car classes, which will stage their finales on Sunday, Oct. 17. The Touring class takes the green flag at 10:30 a.m., while the GT race will start at 1 p.m. Both races are 50 minutes in length. The Touring race has same-day coverage beginning at noon, while the GT race is live at 1 p.m. (All times are PDT.) Both races are on SPEED Channel.

Audi competes in both the American Le Mans Series and SPEED World Challenge, where its cars have won numerous races and championships in recent years.

In the American Le Mans Series, the Champion Audi team enters its mighty Audi R8 Le Mans prototype for drivers JJ Lehto and Marco Werner, who have already clinched the 2004 driver’s championship on the strength of seven wins this season.

In the SPEED World Challenge GT class, Champion Audi enters a pair of Audi’s RS 6 model for defending champion Randy Pobst and five-time series champion Michael Galati. This season Pobst has one win and Galati has three. Galati leads the championship by four points over Dodge Viper driver Tommy Archer heading into the season finale.

Audi of America came forward to sponsor the race when Fry’s Electronics withdrew their commitment last week.

“We are grateful to Audi for stepping up to the plate at the last minute and providing major sponsorship for the event,” said Gill Campbell, CEO/general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. “We appreciate the sponsorship by Fry’s Electronics of last year’s race and realize business decisions have to be made that are not always easy to live with.”

Tickets and information for the Audi Sports Car Championships is available by calling 800-327-SECA (7322) or online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.laguna-seca.com.