JaguarRSR looking for a win in Baltimore

JaguarRSR HOPES TO CAPITALIZE ON SEASON'S BEST FINISH AT LONG BEACH WITH A STRONG RACE AT THE BALTIMORE GRAND PRIX

#98 JaguarRSR Jaguar XKR: P.J. Jones, Rocky Moran Jr.

Photo by: Darren Pierson

EAST LANSING, Michigan (August 30, 2011) - It's a new track, a new challenge, but JaguarRSR heads into Round Seven of the 2011 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron looking to capitalize on their results from Long Beach as they return to the streets for some fierce GT action in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Baltimore Grand Prix is the second of two street circuits on the ALMS schedule. On the downtown roads of Long Beach, Bruno Junqueira qualified the JaguarRSR XKR GT tenth in the GT field which lead to a sixth place result, but saw him running race laps in the top two of the GT class. "I think the new street course will be a challenge for every team, but I think the XKR will do well," comments Junqueira. "We had our best result of the year at the streets of Long Beach, and I know we can do better at Baltimore."

The new East Coast venue is two miles long with 12-turns. The difference between racing on a permanent road course and a temporary street course is that fact that there is no margin for error. The walls are everywhere, the track is tight, so cars and drivers have to be on top of their game or they will be out of it before they know it.

"In order to be fast at a street course it is about getting the car in and out of the corners better than anyone else," said John Gentilozzi, JaguarRSR Technical Director. "We will focus on braking and turn in, then also putting power to the ground - traction and the exit. We will spend a lot of time with differential tuning and traction system control tuning. In the past few races, we have done a lot of work on overall AJ133 engine performance and calibration, as well as traction control strategies. So we look at the upcoming race as another opportunity to further enhance our progress."

Gentilozzi continued, "I think that we have a very good street course package based on the work that we did at Long Beach and then after that further developing our street course setup on the seven-post rig. Low speed mechanical grip seems to be one of the places where our JaguarRSR XKR GT excels, so that will be a big advantage on the streets of Baltimore. Every where we have gone, Dunlop has come out with a spot on tire for us - good performance, good durability."

The team isn't too concerned about the drivers getting up to speed, as they have proven this year that they are all very professional and can adapt to pretty much anything they are given. Driving the #98 JaguarRSR XKR GT will see American's PJ Jones and Rocky Moran, Jr. behind the wheel, with Brazilian Bruno Junqueira and Canadian Ken Wilden in the #99 cat. It will be the first ALMS street race in the Jaguar for Moran and Wilden.

"This will be the first time this season that I have raced the Jaguar on a street course, so it will be very different after coming off of so many permanent road courses," said Moran. "The track looks really unique and quite different then what you typically see out of a standard street course layout. It looks like it has some unconventional chicanes and sections that will be challenging, tight and technical. It also looks like it has a Long Beach style hairpin that will really create passing opportunities, while pushing our braking capacity to the limit. I expect our car to have a solid finish based on the gains we have made throughout the season."