Key Motorsport Sainte-Croix preview

Montréal, July 3, 2003 - Key Motorsport is extremely proud and pleased to announce all drivers' for its four car assault for the 3rd and 4th round of the Fédération Auto-Québec/Hankook Championship, that will be held in Sainte-Croix this upcoming Saturday and Sunday.

Olivier Comeau will be the only Key Motorsport's representative in the FF1600 class. In the first two events, the Sherbrooke's native piloted the #33 Van Diemen/Location Pelletier/Key Motorsport car to a 9th place finish, earning 7 points. A day later he followed up with a 2nd place showing, scoring 17 points, in his fifth FF1600's competition, the Spring Classic Grand Prix of Mont-Tremblant.

Commenting on this weekend's race Comeau said, "This will be the first time I have raced at Sainte-Croix and I am looking forward to the challenge. After testing the #33 Van Diemen/Location Pelletier/Key Motorsport car this week we feel we know that much more about the car and I am really looking forward to my sixth FF1600 race. I am learning a lot with the team and find that I am improving technically after every race weekend. We are trying hard to win the championship," Comeau concluded.

Comeau enters Sainte-Croix currently 2nd in the Championship Standings with 34 points. Antoine Bessette (Key Motorsport) leads the Championship with 51 points, but will miss the upcoming weekend (competing in a Barber Dodge Pro event in Cleveland).

In the Touring class, Key Motorsport will expand to a three-car effort for 2003 with Jacques Gravel competing for the second straight year along with young racing sensation Marc-Antoine Camirand and rookie Sylvain Laporte.

Jacques Gravel will be driving a BMW 328i E36 sponsored by Hankook/Canada Tire. The veteran driver finished second in last year's championship, finishing 5 times on the podium.

"We were unable to race the opening race at Mont Tremblant. The car has not been driven much, so the Friday test day will be quite important to work out all the bugs," said Gravel.

Marc-Antoine Camirand is joining the Key Motorsport team, and will be driving a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon (sponsored by Hyundai Canada). This same car raced the 2002 Grand-American Championship with lots of success. Camirand, whose extensive racing experience includes Formula Ford 2000 with Key Motorsport, stints in Indy Light, Formula Atlantic and American Le Mans, aims to build on the success he experienced while working with Steve and Key Motorsport.

Camirand did some prior practice at Key's home track and was very impressed with the car. "The team has made some substantial suspension changes making the car handle much better than last year. The engine has also been upgraded to give us a little bit more power. We are hoping for a good weekend at Ste-Croix".

Rookie Sylvain Laporte, will make his FAQ debut driving the third car, a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon - prepared by Key Motorsport. This car is also untested. Contrary to the V6 driven by Camirand, Laporte's car has a 4 cylinder engine prepared by Tagliani.

Steve Djelebian, Key Motorsport team principle, commented; "Qualifying is always important, but I think that as long as your time is competitive and close to the front, it's more crucial that you have a competitive car come race day. We've gained good experience running Sainte-Croix last year (won the race, and placed 2nd and 4th with 3 drivers - FF1600), so I think we should really be competitive come Saturday and Sunday," Djelebian concluded.

The races will be televised on RDS on later this fall.

Visit our website at www.keymotorsport.com