Road Atlanta: RSR race report

BITTER SWEET ENDING TO 2010 TRANS-AM SEASON FOR DRISSI AT ROAD ATLANTA

BRASELTON, Georgia (October 1, 2010) - It was unusual to see Tomy Drissi qualify seventh on the Trans-Am grid, but that wasn't going to stop him or the RSR squad from giving it their all at Road Atlanta today in the season finale of the 2010 SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series.

The strategy was to take charge the minute the Californian-native saw the green flag this afternoon, and that is exactly what he did. "We started the race and went from seventh to fourth on the first lap," said Drissi. "The #5 Unstoppable Jaguar XKR was feeling really good. When we came around again for the second lap, I saw RJ Lopez have a big lock up and I thought to myself - you know I think we can salvage a podium off of a bad start to the weekend. But I could tell something was wrong so I headed into the pits for the team to investigate. The RSR crew jumped right in to look things over, and then just said let's not take a chance as it wasn't worth going back out and risking the car."

It turned out that there was an electrical issue which put an early end to their promising race result.

Drissi continued, "Unfortunately it is the end of the season. Thanks to RSR for all their hard work this year. It was a really tough year, but I have been part of Gentilozzi's squad for five years now. They have brought me some really good times, and we have gone through really long times together. We put our heads up high for the work we did this year, last year we won the championship, but it just wasn't our fate this season. None of this would have been possible without the support of my partners, especially 20th Century Fox, I can't thank them enough."

It may have been a tough season, but Drissi still managed a top-three rank in the 2010 Drivers' Championship, finishing third overall. After ten rounds, Drissi earned one win, four front row starts including one pole, four podiums, five top-fives and nine top-ten finishes.

In the spring of 2009, Paul Gentilozzi and his sons, Tony and John, founded RSR with the support of Jaguar Cars Ltd. Gentilozzi, a five-time Trans-Am Champion and record holder in virtually all categories of the Trans-Am history book, continues to have the support of a dedicated staff of championship winning employees who to date have recorded 59 poles, 144 podium finishes, 62 victories, 8 Drivers' Championships and 8 Manufacturers' Championships in Trans-Am competition under the helm of Gentilozzi. 2010 brings the return of Tomy Drissi, 2009 Trans-Am Champion, competing in a Jaguar XKR for the second consecutive year with Gentilozzi's squad.

-source: rsr