Action Express Racing ready for Road America return

Denver, N.C. – The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series stages Round 9 of the 2013 championship this weekend at historic Road America and Action Express Racing is set for its return to the legendary 4-mile road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa will team in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP and brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle will share driving duties in the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP.

The VISITFLORIDA.com Sports Car 250 event will be a history making one that will serve as a harbinger of things to come, as the race weekend will be held in conjunction with the American Le Mans Series. The two sports car entities will be racing on separate days as the preliminary stage is set for the merger of the two organizations into one unified series - United Sports Car Racing - in 2014.

Action Express Racing is eager to return to race action at Road America after a frustrating outing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway saw both team cars experience suspension issues. The weekend ended a string of strong results for the team, and the group is eager to return to the strong form that the dual Corvette DP squad has shown for much of the 2013 season.

The group, which had won the previous two GRAND-AM rounds ahead of Indianapolis, will look for redemption this weekend.

“We didn’t leave Indianapolis with the results that we are capable of, but now we’ve got a chance to get up to Elkhart Lake and make up for it with a big weekend,” said Gary Nelson. “There are four rounds left in this GRAND-AM championship we plan to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year. Race for wins.”

All four Action Express Racing drivers have experience at the Wisconsin facility which has played host to some of the greatest race drivers in the country. The Frisselle brothers each competed in GRAND-AM’s return to Road America in 2011 while Barbosa competed in both the 2011 and 2012 events driving for Action Express Racing. He finished sixth last year while the sister No. 5 Action Express Corvette driven by Darren Law and Terry Borcheller scored the team’s best finish at the track of fourth.

For Fittipaldi, the event marks his Daytona Prototype debut at the track, but the Fittipaldi family legacy spans decades at the famous circuit. The son of former grand prix driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi and the nephew of two-time F1 champion and Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi, Christian has one victory, two podiums, and four top-five finishes in eight open wheel starts at the track. Emerson took three wins at Road America (’86, ’88, ’92) and stood on the podium five times.

Racing at Road America is one of Fittipaldi’s fondest memories having claimed his very first Champ Car victory at the Wisconsin road course.

"My uncle Emerson won at Road America several times and I've won there,” said Fittipaldi. “I love the circuit - I've always done well there. The track has been very good to me and to win again at a place like Road America in a Daytona Prototype would be awesome! I have never been around Road America in anything other than an open-wheel car.

The track is the same, but it will be pretty cool to run it in a Daytona Prototype. The most important thing will be to run the least amount of drag as possible. After Mid-Ohio I was talking to my dad about how the last few races were awesome, but we just needed a little bit of luck.

Things didn't go our way at the beginning of the year, and we needed some bad luck to hit some of the other championship contenders too and that happened at Watkins Glen so now we are on par with everyone. Now it is a race for the championship!”

The VISITFLORIDA.com Sports Car 250 event will kick off with practice on Thursday, followed by a morning practice and qualifying on Friday. The 2.75-hour race is set to go green at 5:00 PM (ET) on Saturday.

Notes:

• Action Express Racing Family success: Congratulations to Mike Rockenfeller, who won the Moscow round of DTM competition last weekend. “Rocky” has raced with Action Express multiple times at the Rolex 24, including the dramatic win in 2010 and more recently a fourth place finish earlier this year in the 2013 Rolex 24

• Hoping ‘101’ is better - Burt Frisselle made his 100th GRAND-AM start in the Brickyard Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but after not getting the result he had been looking for, will hope for more this Saturday

Action Express Racing