Panoz Las Vegas Review

PANOZ MOTOR SPORTS WINS IN LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS, Nev., April 26 -- Riding on the success of its class win at Sebring, The Visteon Panoz Racing Team claimed its second victory in the GT1 class at the Toshiba Copiers and Fax Nevada Grand Prix at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 1998 U.S. sports car season.

The #4 Panoz GTR-1, driven by Andy Wallace and David Brabham, finished first in the GT1 class and second overall and set the fastest race lap (1:11.233). Throughout the race, the #4 GTR-1 battled the WSC cars of Ferrari and Riley and Scott, erupting in a last lap duel between the Ferrari and the Panoz. The Ferrari finished first overall, with the Panoz 0.445 seconds behind.

"It was a fantastic race," said David Brabham, who was piloting the #4 Visteon Panoz in the final confrontation with the Ferrari. "Wayne (Taylor, Ferrari driver) and I were very evenly matched. Congratulations to Ferrari for a great run. All the guys here with the Visteon Panoz Racing Team did a great job -- everything ran like clockwork."

Andy Wallace, the leadoff driver of the #4 GTR-1, was happy with the car, but was disappointed that Panoz Motor Sports did not take an overall win. "The car was very fast, but obviously not quite fast enough, " said Wallace. "I hate second place"

The second Panoz Motor Sports entry, the #5 Panoz GTR-1, driven by Eric Bernard and Raul Boesel, finished second in GT1 and 16th overall. It started strong, running as high as fourth overall, but a broken driveline component sidelined the car for 1/2 hour.

"The car was very good," said Eric Bernard, leadoff driver of #5 Visteon Panoz. "Once the tires warmed up, the car was very fast and consistent. Unfortunately, we had some problems with the car and it had to go in for repairs. After it was repaired, I ran just as fast as before."

Raul Boesel, making his return to Panoz Motor Sports, drove the second shift in the #5 GTR-1, found the traffic to be a problem sometimes. "The traffic was not too bad out there, but sometimes you get frustrated when you have a decent half-lap and you get caught behind some slower cars," Boesel said. "But that's racing."

Don Panoz, founder and owner of Panoz Motor Sports, summed up the Panoz Motor Sports effort this weekend. "It's nice to win in Las Vegas," he said, smiling.