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Sebring: Ascari preview

Banbury, England - 8th March 2002: Formula 3000 Champion Justin Wilson will lead an all British driver line-up for Team Ascari - the Banbury-based race team - at next weekend's endurance classic, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Partnering Sheffield-born ...

Banbury, England - 8th March 2002: Formula 3000 Champion Justin Wilson will lead an all British driver line-up for Team Ascari - the Banbury-based race team - at next weekend's endurance classic, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Partnering Sheffield-born Wilson is 26 year old Ben Collins and Birmingham-born Christian Vann, 27. The trio will be looking to 'ruffle a few feathers' as they take on the might of the American Le Mans Series including Audi, Cadillac, Riley & Scott and Panoz The Team Ascari challenge comprises two cars, the sister car will be driven by the highly-rated South African Werner Lupberger, American T.J. Bell and Dane Kristian Kolby, a former British Formula Ford Champion.

Justin Wilson: I'm really looking forward to the race. It's my first time at Sebring and my first time in a sportscar. I'll be using the pre-race track time to become familiar with the KZR1. Fortunately, I was able to test the car this week at Snetterton and it felt good, the car is well balanced and has lots of grip. It is a completely new experience to driving in F3000. Everything is different, from breaking points, power, weight and of course the driving position. I'm used to sitting in the middle, and now I've at least a foot to spare which proved very interesting at first.

After the frustration of the winter I'm grateful to Team Ascari for giving me this opportunity. It will be a good experience to race in the US and learn how they do things and I am confident that we can also show them a thing or two.

Ian Dawson, Race Director, Team Ascari: Last month at Daytona we started on the first row of the grid and people sat up and took notice of Team Ascari. We shall be aiming to build upon this in Sebring. The car performed well in our recent shake-down, the developments that have been undertaken in recent weeks are clearly working.

With a new aerodynamics package and a strong and highly competent driver line-up, we travel to Florida with high hopes.

Team Ascari will be looking to build upon its' qualifying performance in last month's Daytona 24 Hours when an Ascari KZR1 started the race on the front row of the grid - the first time a British team has achieved this feat in almost 20 years.

The 12 Hours of Sebring takes place at Sebring International Raceway from 13th-16th March. Qualifying takes place on Thursday 14th, the race commences at 10.30am local-time on Saturday 16th.

-ta-

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