SCC: VIR: Multimatic Motorsorts preview

MULTIMATIC MOTORSPORTS READY TO TURN THINGS AROUND IN VIRGINIA

Markham, Ontario (Wednesday, April 21, 2010) - Through the opening three rounds of the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Multimatic Motorsports has proven that the new Ford Mustang Boss 302R has the performance to win, and is looking to turn its luck around at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) April 23-24.

At the previous race at Barber Motorsports Park, the team dominated by capturing pole position, recording the fastest race lap and leading the most laps, but untimely yellows cost them what could have been the team's first victory of the season.

Knowing the Boss 302R has the speed and reliability, Multimatic Motorsports is hoping Lady Luck will be on its side at the 3.27-mile natural terrain road course as the squad attempts to reap the reward for performance.

The Markham, Ontario, Canada-based team will also be trying to continue its streak of front row starting positions. Joe Foster has been living up to his nickname "Front Row Joe" since the start of the season. At Daytona, he and Scott Maxwell qualified second before starting from pole at the following races in Homestead and Alabama.

Additionally, the pair wants to add to the great memories they have of VIR. The Virginian track is the venue where Foster and Maxwell clinched the 2008 championship and where Maxwell also won his 2005 title.

15 Mustang Boss 302R The duo of Gunnar Jeannette and Frankie Montecalvo recorded their first race finish of the season at the previous round at Barber Motorsports Park. The young guns will be looking to build on that performance and come out of the two hour and 30 minute race with a strong result. Jeannette enters the weekend on a high after claiming victory in the LMPC class in the American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.

The Multimatic Motorsports drivers will get to reacquaint themselves with Virginia International Raceway on Thursday while taking part in a promoter test day before official practice starts Friday, April 23 at 8:40 a.m. ET. The team will also get a second practice session on Friday from 11:40 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. ET before the 15-minute qualifying session at 5:00 p.m. ET.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race from Virginia International Raceway will see the green flag on Saturday, April 24 at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on tape-delay on SPEEDTV May 1, 2010 at 1 p.m. ET.

Multimatic Motorsports Quoteboard:

Scott Maxwell, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"I enjoy VIR. It's a good track for the Mustang Boss 302R. We know we have the speed and that the car is solid, we just need the racing luck. Hopefully at VIR we'll have some.

"I like any track that has big elevation changes like Virginia and it's fast. I can't really find anything I dislike about that track. It's a fun place and it's one of my favourite places we go to."

Joe Foster, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"I think the Ford Mustang Boss 302R will go well at Virginia International Raceway. It's a technical track with much higher speed than Barber for example. The last time we were there, Scott and I won the championship in 2008, it was a 6-hour race at the end of the season, and so we have good memories of that track in a Mustang. I'm looking forward to getting back there. I think it will be good for our car.

"Dealing with the traffic at VIR is a little bit easier as well because it's a faster track. Some of the ST cars handle and brake better than we do in some of the slower corners. They can actually be faster than us mid-corner so we don't have a chance to get by them. The faster track will lend itself better to traffic.

"I think it's a fantastic track and one of the few proper permanent road courses we have left in the U.S. that has some very visceral corners that separate the strong from the weak."

Frankie Montecalvo, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"I raced at VIR last year in the Kinetic M3, E46, it was a 4-hour race. I think it's a really cool track and I like it a lot.

"I'm not sure how the Mustang Boss 302R will do there, but we have a good car all around so I'm confident we will once again be competitive.

"We're definitely moving along in the season, it will be important to build on our first finish and go from there. I think it's realistic to hope for good results because we know we have a solid and fast race car."

Gunnar Jeannette, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"VIR has always been a strong track for a Mustang, so it will be interesting to see how our Ford Mustang Boss 302R performs there. We will go out there and do our best and try to win, because I know we have a car that is capable of doing that.

"VIR is a very challenging track, it has a kind of large mixture of high speed corners and low speed corners. It's also quite narrow, so for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge type of races it may be difficult with the traffic with the ST cars out there."

-source: mm