Watkins Glen II: Aasco Motorsports race report

Top-10 Watkins Glen Finish For Aasco Motorsports Porsche

WATKINS GLEN, NY., August 15, 2005 -- Aasco Motorsports brought drivers Pat Flanagan (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) and Patrick Long (Las Vegas, Nev.) to Watkins Glen International's 2.45-mile "short course" for their fourth race of the 2005 Grand America Rolex Sports Car Series. Long turned the third quickest lap in qualifying to place the No. 26 New Century Mortgage Porsche 911 GT3 Cup third on the GT grid. The duo then overcame a handful of small problems to place the Dennis Aase-prepared entry 10th in class, 28th overall, at the conclusion of the CompUSA 200 at the Glen. It was the second top-ten finish for the team this season. The New Century Porsche earned a fourth at their debut at California Speedway earlier this year.

The top-ten for Flanagan, president of New Century Mortgage and CEO of Home 123, was one of many highpoints at the co-sanctioned Grand American/ NASCAR weekend in upstate New York. The second New Century-entry in the Rolex Series race, the No. 02 Daytona Prototype of Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates, ran seventh for in the Daytona Prototype class while the two NASCAR entries split success. In Saturday's NASCAR Busch Grand National event, Reed Sorenson fell out early with an engine failure finishing 41st in the No. 41 Home 123 entry. In Sunday's headline NASCAR Nextel Cup event, Jaime McMurrary drove his Home 123 No. 42 to 13th in the last road course event of the Nextel Cup season.

Aasco Motorsports will now return to its Anaheim, Calif. shop to prepare the white, gold and green Porsche GT3 Cup car for the final two events the team is scheduled to run this season. It will next roll onto a Rolex Series grid on September 10th at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) and then at Virginia International Raceway on October 9th. The PIR weekend marks a historic event for the Rolex Series as it will be the first time the GT class, for production-based machines, will have its own two hour and 45-minute race. The oval/road course in the Arizona desert will then feature a separate DP event. It will be Flanagan and Long's first opportunity to win a sports car event overall.

Pat Flanagan, driver: "We had a really good car again for the race. Dennis and the guys really did a great job. They nailed our pit stops and made no mistakes. This short race did not play to our strengths as there just was not enough time left for Patrick to pull us back up to a podium. We will pack it up and head back west to Phoenix."

-www.AascoMotorsports.com.