NIGHTTIME IS CRUEL TO LIGHTNING FAST SUNTRUST TEAM

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No one was faster during the month of January at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway than the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing, featuring drivers Max Angelelli, Ricky Taylor, Pedro Lamy and Wayne Taylor.

But despite clocking the month’s fastest testing lap in record-setting time, qualifying on the pole for this weekend’s 48th Rolex 24 At Daytona, and setting the fast lap of the twice-around-the-clock Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series endurance marathon itself, the SunTrust team had to persevere through multiple mechanical maladies and a fateful meeting with a concrete barrier to earn a hard-fought sixth-place finish by the time the checkered flag flew Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps darkness is to blame for the fact the SunTrust team never had a fighting chance to exploit its lightning speed over the 3.56-mile, 14-turn superspeedway road circuit. During the daylight hours Saturday and Sunday, Angelelli, Taylor, Lamy and Taylor led an incredibly trouble-free existence in the team’s efforts to bring SunTrust its second Rolex 24 victory since 2005. But once nightfall began to set in on Saturday, troubles of all kinds began to send the SunTrust Racing machine to the pits and the garage for extended visits for repairs, which gradually distanced the No. 10 car further and further from the race leaders.

After helping set the pace under rainy and wet conditions at the outset of the 24-hour affair, the troubles started, innocently enough, when Angelelli had to make an unscheduled stop during the second hour for a new set of rain tires when his right-front tire was beginning to come apart due to excessive heat. He stayed on the lead lap in 13th place, nonetheless, with plenty of time left to regain his position at the front.

But then, midway through the third hour, a freak occurrence plucked Angelelli from his forward movement. The rooftop radio antenna mount collapsed and fell into the cockpit, right into Angelelli’s field of vision. The Italian driving ace bolted into the pits for a quick fix, but fell two laps off the pace as he handed the car over to his new full-time co-driver Ricky Taylor. The antenna mount proved to need better reinforcement as Taylor was having to help keep it propped up while negotiating the Daytona circuit. He was able to pit shortly after the three-hour mark under caution so the team could make a permanent fix without losing any more laps.

Midway through the sixth hour, after taking over from Taylor and completing his first fuel-and-tire run, Lamy, the Portuguese former Formula 1 competitor and current factory driver for Peugeot at the 24 Hours of Le Mans just left the SunTrust pit with a full load of fuel and fresh tires when he slid into a concrete barrier on the pit exit road. He was able to continue, but inflicted significant damage to the right-front and rear of the SunTrust car. He headed straight to the garage for 13 minutes of suspension and gearbox repairs that dropped him five laps off the pace.

Not long after relieving Lamy during the eighth hour, Angelelli reported that the rear end of the car didn’t feel quite right. The crew directed him to the garage and ended up replacing the gearbox a second time, as well as other major driveline components. Angelelli resumed 18 laps off the pace.

All the while, between trips to the garage, the SunTrust car was able to turn some of the fastest laps on the race track even though the team’s hopes of winning had essentially vanished well before the race’s midpoint. And the troubles would continue in the overnight hours.

Midway through the 14th hour, Lamy reported gearbox troubles once again and brought the SunTrust car to the garage. In addition to a third gearbox change, the crew also had to replace the left-side driveshaft before Angelelli took over and resumed in 10th place, 44 laps down. One final visit to the garage less than an hour later, when the crew noticed via onboard telemetry that the gearbox oil temperatures were beginning to spike, dropped the SunTrust car to its largest deficit of the race—47 laps—to the leaders.

Once the darkness began to turn to light on Sunday morning, the SunTrust car’s troubles would be behind it with more than eight hours of racing left. At one point, just after dawn, Angelelli showed his and the No. 10 car’s mettle when he drove up behind the first- and second-place cars, picked them off one-by-one, and left them in his rearview mirror.

He turned the race’s fastest lap of 1 minute, 41.101 seconds (126.764 mph) in the process. As the SunTrust driver lineup rotated through the cockpit the rest of the way, attrition came to the rescue and enabled the team to leave move up in the order and end up with a relatively successful points day despite its unusual array of mechanical troubles.

“I think this is such a great team,” said team owner, two-time Rolex 24 winner and three-time sports car racing champion Wayne Taylor, who put the exclamation point on the sixth-place finish by driving the car across the finish line to take the checkered flag. “Everybody works for one thing, and that’s to be successful, and they never give up. There is so much respect amongst this group, as well as all of our partners—SunTrust, Toshiba, Roush Yates Engines—it’s what we do. It’s all we do. I’ll say this, and I mean this: I’ve never known my team to be more prepared than they were for this race. But it’s always those little things that take you out in a 24-hour race, and we had more than our fair share of those. We proved we had the best car. We have the best team. And that bodes well as we move forward from here.

Angelelli, who co-drove with Taylor to the 2005 Rolex 24 win en route to that season’s Rolex Series championship, had one of the many smiling faces in the post-race revelry despite the disappointment of having such a fast car and having to settle for a sixth-place finish.

“It’s quite rare to have such a fast car all the way through a weekend and leaving the weekend without a win,” Angelelli said. “It was such a good car, it was really upsetting. But we’re happy because, despite all of the bad things that happened to us, we finished sixth and that leaves us looking good for the championship. I’m enthused about Ricky. He did everything so perfectly, so incredibly perfect. We can’t forget that, for him, this is his first real race as a regular driver with a championship-contending team. I’m looking forward to the season with Ricky. We will have a lot of fun.”

The younger Taylor, who made his Rolex Series debut just two years ago when he co-drove the SunTrust car to a fifth-place finish in the Rolex 24, turned competitive laps throughout his three double driving stints and left no doubt the team would be able to mount a strong run for the championship once again.

“This SunTrust Ford Dallara was really, really unbelievably strong today,” said the 20-year-old Taylor. “It was just a shame for a little bit of bad luck through the night just ruin it for us. It’s the 24-hour, it’s expected to have some bumps. But I felt so strong during the race. Hopefully, we can have a solid season for the rest of the year. All the worries, all the uncomfortable feelings, are gone. I’m ready to get to Homestead (for the next race) and get the season going. I was in the motorhome during all of our major problems, so I didn’t get to see everything that was going on. But going through four gearboxes is unheard of. Hopefully, I didn’t have anything to do with that. But the car was so strong, and it’s just a shame we weren’t there at the end to fight for the win.”

Asked his opinion about his son’s performance, Wayne Taylor deferred.

“That’s difficult for me to talk about, personally, because he’s my son and I don’t want to say things that would come across as biased,” Wayne Taylor said with a laugh. “I guess what you should do is ask Max, and Dallara, and Ford, and the rest of the team. Ask them, because I know what I think.”

Finally, Lamy heads back to the Peugeot Le Mans program after his second Rolex 24 with the SunTrust team, wondering just what might have been.

“We had many problems,” he said. “And I made a big mistake going out of the pits on cold tires. I touched the barrier, and then we lost some laps there and kept losing laps with the other things. It was a terrible race for us from that standpoint because the car was very fast. If we could have finished without so many problems, we might have won the race. But that is a part of these kinds of races. This is a very good team and I think they will go on and have a great year.”

The new No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley team, a spinoff of the Brumos Porsche team that won last year’s Rolex 24, took the checkered flag today, 52 seconds ahead of the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley. They were the only two competitors to finish on the lead lap. There were 13 race leaders in all, including the SunTrust car, which held the point for seven laps. The lead-lap cars covered 755 laps, or 2,687 miles. The SunTrust team finished 44 laps down.

Round Two of the 2010 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series will be the Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead Miami Speedway on Saturday night, March 6.

BOSS IS BACK

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Forty years after it’s namesake became a road racing legend, the BOSS 302R is back on track for 2010 with the new 5.0-liter V-8 engine.

Jamie Allison, director Ford North American Motorsports; Fritz Wilke, Ford Mustang Brand Manager; Mike Harrison, Ford Motor Company Engine Programs manager; and the man who made the original BOSS 302 famous, Parnelli Jones participated in a press conference before the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series season-opener to celebrate the debut of the new BOSS 302R.

JAMIE ALLISON – DIRECTOR, FORD NORTH AMERICAN MOTORSPORTS
WOULD YOU LIKE TO DISCUSS THE NEW VEHICLE?
“Absolutely. What an exciting moment here with Parnelli. Almost 40 years, actually 40 years and counting when Parnelli established and set the legend of the original BOSS 302. We couldn’t be more thrilled. Brand new car, this year at Ford Motor Company, it’s the 2011 Mustang with a new 5.0-liter engine. That in itself is a great history, but to actually track it down and actually build a race car around that historic 5.0-liter and be surrounded by the legend, and our dear friend Parnelli, to re-introduce the BOSS 302R to its true form, which is back on the track where it belongs.”

PARNELLI JONES
YOU WERE ABLE TO SEE THE NEW BOSS AND THE OLD BOSS TOGETHER TODAY. HOW DID THE TWO COMPARE?
“To compare the two cars, obviously they can make a lot more power today and they’ve certainly done that. The new car is phenomenal, it handles great. I got a chance to drive a little bit out at Laguna Seca, drive the new car that they’re racing today, and I can certainly see that they’ve come a long way. Obviously, they have a little better power, a little better brakes, probably a little better drivers, probably, anyway. It’s really thrilling to be a part of Mustang because I certainly feel a great part of it, spent my whole life, I always say 40 years, I’ve got 4 of them myself. They’re really enjoyable cars and I can’t say anything greater than that.”

COULD YOU SPEAK TO THE ADVENT OF TECHNOLOGY FROM WHAT YOU’VE RACED TO WHAT WE’RE SEEING IN THE RACE CARS TODAY? HOW MUCH DOES IT BLOW YOUR MIND AT HOW FAR WE’VE COME?
“Well, actually that’s one thing that’s quite different. In our day, we didn’t have any electronics, and we had metals, for example, that weren’t as good as they are today. Valve springs, for example, was a big problem that we had back in 1970, and today they’ve come a long ways. The amazing part of it is you can, in today’s Mustang, you can take it out and go hot lap it for quite a few laps and things like that without hurting it. In our day, in ’70, you couldn’t do that quite with a streetcar and went out and take a few laps, you would probably burn it down. They’ve come, with technology, a long ways. As we can see, you can make so much more power today in the same amount of cubic inches as we did then. It just goes on and on. The brakes are better. The tires are better. Technology has just come a long way, so it’s not the same, but take whatever you race, whatever you have at that particular moment, and try to maximize the most out of it.”

YOU HAVE RACED A LOT OF CHAMPIONS. WHAT DID THEY HAVE THAT MADE THEM CHAMPIONS? CAN YOU COMPARE THE CHAMPIONS OF TODAY TO THOSE FROM YESTERDAY?
“It’s a good question. I don’t think one driver from one place to another is any different. What really makes a race driver stand out is his will to win, his desire. I think there are a lot of drivers out there that have a lot of talent, maybe they’re lacking a little bit in their desire. The ones that standout have the most desire. You see that in the famous names that you see in racing.”

IN TODAY’S RACE ENVIRONMENT WITH THE RACE CARS OF TODAY, CAN YOUR APPROACH TO RACING BE APPLIED WITH SUCCESS?
“You’re talking about desire, that’s what you’re getting at. When I first started racing we were running old jalopies, and we had as many as 200 cars show up to qualify and they only took 16 for the main event. You gave it 110-120 percent constantly. There was no letting down at any moment, you pushed, shoved, took everything to the max. That probably hurt my career a lot because when I went into other types of racing, I tended to do the same things, well they corrected me right away, the officials did. I think it just spells out the desire. I want to win, and I did at all costs so-to-speak.”

MIKE HARRISON – FORD MOTOR COMPANY ENGINE PROGRAMS MANAGER
UNDER THE HOOD, HOW DO THE TWO CARS COMPARE?
“Certainly both have enough motor to be competitive in their times. I know the original BOSS 302 had lots of power out on the track. The street car was a little de-tuned from that, but you had plenty of power at the top in Parnelli. With the 5.0-liter that we have here today for the BOSS 302R, we’re essentially pretty much stock for what we’ve announced for the 2011 5.0- liter. It’s very slightly modified from the 2011 engine, but we get to take advantage of that fact. Really we’ve got a lot of torque to pull out of the corners and also it’s going to make racing a lot more affordable because this is a primarily production based engine that we’ve pulled off our machine and assembly lines, so it’s very economical for us to do this. It’s going to make racing a lot more affordable.”

FRITZ WILKE – FORD MUSTANG BRAND MANAGER

HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE GT AND THE BOSS 302R TO COMPARE ON TRACK?
“We’re so excited to have our Mustangs back on track and we’re so excited to debut this 5.0-liter that a lot of people have been waiting for with the BOSS 302R. We’ve got legendary paint schemes, Parnelli, we’ve borrowed your paint scheme, thank you for letting us do that. We are so excited and we think all of the Mustangs are going to do great this year. We’re really looking forward to it as a brand to really embrace the heritage of racing that we have engineered for 45 years.”

PAST MEETS BOSS 302 FUTURE AT RACING DEBUT

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Forty years ago, racing legend Parnelli Jones piloted a Mustang BOSS 302 to a championship title. Starting today, five Ford Racing BOSS 302R teams look to channel the spirit of Jones’ success and go for another championship while Jones himself looks on.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Parnelli Jones’ 1970 Trans-Am Championship in a Mustang BOSS 302 prepared by Bud Moore Engineering, Ford Racing recently introduced the new BOSS 302R, a factory-built race ready Mustang for track days and road racing in a number of SCCA and NASA classes.

Built with a special Grand Am Homologation Package, the BOSS 302R will compete in the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series (formerly known as Koni Challenge), starting with today’s season-opening race in Daytona. Multimatic Motorsports, Jim Click Racing, JBS Motorsports and Racer’s Edge Motorsports will campaign for their first victory this weekend, and Parnelli Jones will be on hand at the track, visiting with the teams and drivers.

“The original BOSS 302 was a championship-winning icon,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford North Motorsports. “The new Mustang BOSS 302R will be ready to carry on that tradition. The Mustang was born to race from the start, and this new Mustang is born to win.”

The BOSS 302R features the Ford Racing Boss 302 crate engine, based on the new 5.0-liter 4-valve V-8 found in the 2011 Mustang GT. With the Grand Am Homologation Package, this turnkey race car also includes a 6-speed manual transmission with a roll cage, race seats, a safety harness, race dampers and springs, upgraded brakes and tires. The total ready-to-race package will cost $129,000 (MSRP).

The BOSS 302R follows in the very successful footsteps of its most recent road racing predecessor—the Mustang FR500C from Ford Racing. In 2005, when the Mustang FR500C debuted at Daytona, the first car was delivered on Wednesday of that week and won the Koni Challenge race on Friday.

In five years of competition since then, the FR500C has won three drivers’ championships, including back-to-back (2008—2009) Triple Crown championships of driver, team and manufacturers titles in Koni competition. The FR500C has also seen success in European FIA GT3 and FIA GT4 competition, and also by the recent E-85 fueled land speed record set by Hajek Motorsports at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

“We expect the BOSS 302R to continue the successful tradition of winning, factory-built race cars from Ford Racing,” said Allison.

“The FR500C and FR500S road racing Mustangs, and the CobraJet drag racer have proven to be competitive right out of the box for our customers, helping teams win races and championships. We have high hopes for the BOSS 302R to provide that same sort of competitive product for our customers with the tradition you can only get from Ford Racing.”

Ford Racing engineer Andy Slankard has been instrumental in the development and testing of the new BOSS 302R. Slankard attended the recent Daytona test sessions and is confident with the performance of the purpose-built race car.

“We have won three championships in five years, so we know how to make a Mustang fast,” said Slankard. “So far, everything is looking really solid. I don’t anticipate any major changes. We are pretty sorted with the content that will be in the car. We are just working on things to make sure they are durable and reliable.”

Available through the Ford Racing warehouse, a total of 50 BOSS 302R Mustangs will be built by Ford Racing. Delivery is anticipated in third quarter of 2010. For those who miss out on the initial lot of 50, Ford Racing Performance Parts will sell all the parts necessary to convert a Mustang to a BOSS 302R including the BOSS 302 engine.

FORD MUSTANG TRIO FINISH CTSCC IN TOP-10

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Bret Seafuse navigated his No. 37 Mustang BOSS 302R to the highest finish among the Ford teams in the Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway.

BRET SEAFUSE – NO. 37 MUSTANG BOSS302R, JBS MOTORSPORTS-(FINISHED FOURTH, QUALIFIED 13TH)
“We went down the board because I made a bit of a blunder on the second restart and I jumped the start so I had to come in for a stop-and-go. We went from seventh or eighth to last behind all the ST cars and everybody, so we battled our way back and we won it on pit strategy.”

WHAT WAS YOUR STRATEGY?
“I drove that new Boss 302R as hard as I could and passed as many as people as I could, got it as far back up as I could. We weren’t in bad shape when we put James [Gue] in the car; we were coming back and decided upon a fuel strategy we thought might work and it darn near paid off.

WHAT ABOUT THE PENALTY?
“I’m not really sure, I’ve not done that before. Something must’ve looked different to us than it did to others but I don’t plan to do it again because it makes for a lot of extra work to overcome.”

JAMES GUE – NO. 37 MUSTANG BOSS 302R, JBS MOTORSPORTS– (FINISHED FOURTH, QUALIFIED 13TH)
“We sort of put ourselves in a bad situation right off the bat.”

HOW ABOUT THE MUSTANG BOSS 302R?
“This is a brand new car for us and have only had it for less than two weeks now. I just jumped in it [Thursday] for the first time so we’ve got a lot to learn though we learned a lot in the last couple of days.

A FEW TEAMS HAD A FEW ISSUES TODAY. DID YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THAT?
“So far, I’ve got no complaints straight out of the box after having had the car for only a handful of days, especially after having come from the back as we did. We were not necessarily the quickest car but we certainly know how to race.”

RAY MASON – NO. 60 MUSTANG GT, REHAGEN RACING– (FINISHED SEVENTH, QUALIFIED SEVENTH)
NOT TOO BAD OF A DAY FOR YOU?
“Well Ryan [Winchester], my young rookie buddy here gave me a very good car. We put scrap tires on it. Our tread didn’t work quite as well as we thought it would, had to fuel early. That’s just the luck of the game, but the car was good. We had a great run and the old man and the kid did a very good so we’re pleased.”

YOU HAD SOME TIRE ISSUES TOWARDS THE END.
“The tires started going off in the last eight to 10 laps, so I was getting a little bit of an oversteer, but it was very manageable.”

ANDREW CADDELL – NO. 59 MUSTANG GT, REHAGEN RACING – (FINISHED NINTH, QUALIFIED THIRD)
“We qualified well yesterday and had a good starting spot for the race today. The header got a crack in it right at the beginning of the race, so we were down a lot of horsepower. The Mustang was really good handling wise in the infield. If we would have had more horsepower, I think we would have had a pretty good shot at a top-five easily, but the BMWs were just way too strong. I’m happy with our result. Ken Wilden drove the Mustang like the champion he is. I think we finished pretty strong with that broken header. I’m excited about it, not excited as we should have been or could have been but ninth is better than what I did last year, so I can’t complain.”

YOU AND WILDEN ARE BOTH MUSTANG CHAMPIONS. HOW WAS IT TO RACE WITH HIM?
“I learned a lot from Ken Wilden this weekend. We looked at his data all weekend and I think it helped me improve my lap time from last year. He helped me a lot, I just we wish we could have made the finish a little bit better and got them a little higher in the championship standings.”

KEN WILDEN – NO. 59 MUSTANG GT REHAGEN RACING, – (FINISHED NINTH, QUALIFIED THIRD)
NOT A BAD FINISH FOR YOU AND ANDREW TODAY.
“It wasn’t the best day for us. It wasn’t what we had planned on happening going in. We just couldn’t get the car fast enough today. We have some time before Homestead to really work out the kinks and figure out a new strategy. Last year our worst finish was eighth, which isn’t horrible, but we need to do better in order to defend our title.”

HOW WAS YOUR CO-DRIVER ANDREW?
“Andrew is a talented driver. He really put forth his best effort today, but unfortunately we just couldn’t get the car up where we wanted it.”

GUNNER JEANNETTE – NO. 16 MUSTANG BOSS 302R, MULTIMATIC MOTORPSORTS – (FINISHED 49TH, QUALIFIED 12TH)
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?
“We had a couple of issues to start. First, we had something with the engine where it went down in power, some electrical issues, then it kind of fixed itself and it was going good. We had a really strong run coming back and I was coming up through traffic, but the engine was just cutting out so it was just really tough and then all of a sudden it just cut out completely. Then I cycled the ignition and it was fine and then I was going in the bus stop and I hit the brakes and the car wouldn’t stop and then it just stopped. Coming around in Turn 1 I hit the pedal again and just went all the way to the floor.

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT RACES LIKE THIS?
“It was a trying race but we use these as test sessions, so I’m sure that we’ll go to Homestead with all of the issues fixed. I’m very confident with that. There’s no way in testing to simulate what do you do during a race weekend like this. The last program when we introduced the Mustang FR500C we had pretty much a whole year of development to get the car right. This time we only had three months, so we’re just a little bit behind schedule, but I know without a doubt in my heart that this car is going to win a race season.”

FRANK MONTECALVO – NO. 16 MUSTANG BOSS 302R, MULTIMATIC MOTORSPORTS – (FINISHED 49TH, QUALIFIED SECOND)
“We had a really good race and started off well. We didn’t perform like we did in qualifying yesterday because we changed the car set-up but we made it up in the race. We had a couple problems in the race that we had in practice, so we started working on the car and didn’t find those problems this morning. We weren’t sure if it was a fuel pick up or ignition problem. Unfortunately, it hurt us. Hopefully, we’ll fix this and do better next race.”

TALK ABOUT RUNNING THE MUSTANG BOSS 302R.
“I had a lot more seat time in the BOSS than I did in the other Mustang. The BOSS has more development and will be very competitive this season.”

SCOTT MAXWELL – NO. 15 MUSTANG BOSS 302R, MULTIMATIC MOTORSPORTS– (FINISHED 56TH, QUALIFIED SECOND)
YOU WENT BACK TO THE GARAGE MID-WAY THROUGH THE RACE. WHAT HAPPENED?
“Typical with a new car there were numerous problems, but the main one that put us out is we keep either breaking a power steering belt or a pump, I’m not really sure but that’s what caused us to pit stop. We were also struggling with some engine issues and brake issues, more engine issues than anything, a bit of brakes towards the end, but that’s what you expect with a brand new car out of the box. We will get it right for the next race.”

MIKE MCGOVERN – NO. 53 MUSTANG, JIM CLICK RACING – (FINISHED 63RD, QUALIFIED 17TH)
“We had a good qualifying effort by Mr. Click, he did a great job. We had a great start. We made it up to ninth and things went really well. We pitted, I think a bit too early, but the pit stop went really well. When we got back out on the track, we made it up to 15th and then we had an issue with the right rear tire. All the lug nuts came off and got a big vibration. We came into the pits and the wheel fell off. We were lucky there. We had minimal damage, the Mustang is in good shape and it is a learning process for Click Racing. We’re going to continue to progress and keep working at it.”

YOU MUSTANG LOOKS PRETTY CLEAN WITH MINOR MARKS, THERE ARE OTHER CARS THAT HAVE A LOT OF DAMAGE. HOW WAS IT OUT THERE?
“I think at certain points in time when I was on track, there was a lot going on. Any time you have so many cars in little spots and speed differences then you’re going to have issues. But it’s just one of those things—that’s racing.”

JACK ROUSH JR. – NO. 61 MUSTANG, ROUSH PERFORMANCE – (FINISHED 66TH, QUALIFIED FOURTH)
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE CAR GOING BEHIND THE WALL?
“We had a little bit of contact with a car out there and I think it interfered with the cooling ducts, causing the oil and water temperatures to shoot up.”

BILLY JOHNSON – NO. 61 ROUSH PERFORMANCE MUSTANG – (FINISHED 66TH, QUALIFIED FOURTH)
“Unfortunately we weren’t able to finish but, Jack [Roush Jr.] showed a lot of speed. He was able to move up to second place and he did an awesome job. We wanted to have a better result, but we ran into some problems. I’m not sure what happened to the motor. The team is showing that the car is capable of doing well and we look forward to going to the next race to have that results show for it.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THE NEXT RACE AND THE ENTIRE SEASON?
“I think the biggest concern right now is fixing whatever happened to prevent us from finishing this race. Then with the continued speed that we showed, the result will come from that.”

DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT HAVE AN ANSWER ABOUT THE MOTOR?
“I’m not sure. The team will take the Mustang back and work with Roush Yates guys to find out what happened.”

Chevrolet Cruze finalist for World Car of the Year, Camaro finalist for World Car Design of the Year

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The World Car Awards announced that Chevrolet Cruze is a finalist for the prestigious World Car of the Year Award, and the Camaro is a finalist for the World Car Design of the Year award. The winners will be announced at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 1.

The Cruze is one of 10 finalists for the World Car of the Year award, as selected by a jury of 59 international automotive journalists, based on their experience with each candidate as part of their professional work. The jury members constitute a balance of representation from Asia, Europe, North America, South America, as well as other parts of the world.

The jurors' next step is to re-evaluate the "top ten" cars, in preparation for a final round of voting in February. They will specifically rate each vehicle in terms of overall merit, value, safety, environmental responsibility, emotional appeal, and significance.

"Being a finalist for the World Car of the Year confirms the momentum behind Cruze," says Jim Campbell, Chevrolet General Manager. "More than 125,000 customers in Asia and Europe have already chosen the all-new Cruze. That strong acceptance on the world stage makes us confident that Cruze will be successful here in the U.S. as well when it goes on sale in the third quarter of this year."

Cruze has already earned the top rating of five stars from the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP). According to EuroNCAP, Cruze is the first passenger car to receive maximum scores in both the frontal offset collision test and side impact crash test since EuroNCAP began providing crash test ratings in 1997. Cruze also received best-in-class, five-star crash safety ratings in the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) testing in Australia, and the Chinese New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP) testing in China.

The Chevrolet Camaro is one of four finalists for the World Car Design of the Year, as selected by a jury of five design experts from around the world. The 59 World Car Awards jurors will now vote on the expert's design recommendations.

“It’s rather humbling to be nominated for the best new design in the world,” says Tom Peters, design director GM performance cars. “The nomination is a tribute to the passion of many individuals who worked so hard to make the vision of the new Camaro come to life.”

According to Yahoo!, Camaro was the most-searched vehicle in 2009. Camaro has also received the Popular MechanicsAutomotive Excellence Award, and was named an All-Star by Automobile Magazine. Since its introduction in 2009, Camaro has outsold Mustang for seven straight months.

GM Reaches Agreement to Sell Saab to Spyker

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General Motors and Spyker Cars NV today confirmed that they have reached a binding agreement on the purchase of Saab Automobile AB.

"Today’s announcement is great news for Saab employees, dealers and suppliers, great news for millions of Saab customers and fans worldwide, and great news for GM,” said John Smith, GM vice president for corporate planning and alliances.

“General Motors, Spyker Cars, and the Swedish government worked very hard and creatively for a deal that would secure a sustainable future for this unique and iconic brand, and we're all happy for the positive outcome,” Smith said.

As part of the agreement, Spyker intends to form a new company, Saab Spyker Automobiles, which will carry the Saab brand forward. The sale will be subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory, governmental and court approvals. Other terms and conditions specific to the sale will be disclosed in due time.

The Swedish government is at present reviewing the transaction and the related request for guarantees of a Saab Automobile loan that has been requested from the European Investment Bank. Assuming quick action, the transaction is expected to close in mid-February, and previously announced wind down activities at Saab will be immediately suspended, pending the close of the transaction.

“Throughout the negotiations, GM has always had the hope to find a solution for Saab that would avoid a wind down of the brand,” added Nick Reilly, president, GM Europe. “We’ve worked with many parties over the past year, including governments and investors, and I’m very pleased that we could come to such a good conclusion, one that preserves jobs in Sweden and elsewhere. GM will continue to support Saab and Spyker on their way forward.”

GM Invests $246 Million in Electric Motors and Hybrid Components creating jobs in Baltimore

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General Motors will invest approximately $246 million in electric motor and electric drive manufacturing including construction of a high volume electric drive production facility at the Baltimore Transmission plant that will begin to manufacture in 2013 electric motors for GM’s Two-mode Hybrid system. The plant will be the first electric motor manufacturing facility in the U.S. operated by a major automaker.

By bringing this capability to the U.S., GM will create approximately 200 jobs. Local and state incentives, along with the Recovery Act funding announced in August 2009 by the U.S. Department of Energy, are helping to make this facility expansion and job creation possible.

“Electric motors are the engines of the future,” Stephens said. “By designing and manufacturing electric motors in-house at Baltimore Transmission, we can more efficiently control the design, materials and production processes. It will also enable us to lower costs and improve performance, quality, reliability, and manufacturability of the electric motors we use in our vehicles.”

Stephens also noted the importance of the new technology to the nation’s and Maryland’s overall economic growth.

“Electric motors are driving the next wave of automotive growth,” Stephens said. “The expansion of the Baltimore plant will generate a significant influx of money and jobs into the greater Baltimore area, creating U.S.-based manufacturing jobs.”

Through job retention and creation, Baltimore Transmission, which opened in 2000, will employ close to 400 people.

Nationally, including immediate project jobs, manufacturing jobs and the impact on suppliers and local communities, the investment is estimated to retain or create about 1700 jobs.

“Ultimately this expansion, its direct economic impact, its contribution to GM’s capabilities, and its impact on the vehicles we drive will be a model of what a lean, energetic, creative General Motors is capable of doing and contributing, “ Stephens said.