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Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
Cell: 317-201-0729
Martien, Zacharias, Maassen and Pilet
To Drive Wright Motorsports'
Phillips Way Racing Porsche in Rolex 24;
Martien's Appearance Is 50th Birthday Present
BATAVIA, Ohio, Dec. 17 - Wright Motorsports owner John Wright is pleased to
announce that his Batavia, Ohio-based racing team will enter a 2009 Porsche 911
GT3 Cup car sponsored by Phillips Way Racing in selected Rolex Series races
in 2009, beginning with the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona International
Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. on Jan. 24-25.
Wright has assembled an impressive roster of four drivers for that brutal
test of drivers, teams and cars: car owner/driver Phillip Martien of Finksburg,
Md.; veteran B.J. Zacharias, a native son of Cincinnati; and two factory
Porsche stars, Sascha Maassen, a native of Aachen, Germany now living in Lontzen,
Belgium, and Patrick Pilet of Le Chesnay, France.
Two classes of cars compete in the Rolex 24: Daytona Prototypes and GT cars.
Wright Motorsports' entry for 2009 is in the GT division.
The white Wright Motorsports Porsche will carry the number 33 in the annual
twice-around-the-clock enduro. Its sponsor, Phillips Way, Inc., is a $100
million construction company based in Finksburg, Md., that Martien founded and
owns. It specializes in providing quick but complete and on budget construction
and reconstruction for the health care and institutional industries. (See
phillipsway.com.)
The Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati (mccofcincinnati.com), the area's
state-of-the-art country club for motorsports enthusiasts, is an associate
sponsor for the entry.
Birthday Present
Although Zacharias (age 35), Maassen (39) and Pilet (27) are professional
race car drivers with many accolades, Martien will be competing in his first
Rolex 24. The experience is a present he's giving himself for his 50th birthday
on Jan. 19, five days before the race begins.
It's definitely not a whim for him though. Wright and Zacharias have been
working with Martien for the last two years in other series in preparation for
this challenge. Wright and his crew prepare Martien's car for combat, while
Zacharias is his driver coach in a relationship not unlike a resident pro at a
golf resort.
Wright said Martien's enthusiasm for competing in his first Rolex 24 has been
infectious, and has energized the entire team.
The race is some five weeks away, but Martien is already counting the days.
"The adrenaline is already pumping," the father of three admitted. "I think
staying focused for the full 24 hours will be the hardest thing for me. I've
been working with a personal trainer for a year to get in shape to do this.
I'm hardly going to get any sleep during the race, so the thing for me at my age
will be to try to be as sharp as I can be for the full 24 hours."
With a morning drivers' meeting, an autograph session and the pre-race
festivities, the time span for the drivers to be awake is more like 36 hours. Most
drivers attempt to get some sleep between their shifts behind the wheel,
resting in motor homes parked in the infield. That can be hard to accomplish,
however, due to adrenaline, distractions and noise.
But Martien got off to a good start when he and Zacharias tested the Porsche
last month at Daytona. "That was the first time I was running next to the
faster Daytona Prototypes and the first time I was racing at night, but I did
well," Martien said. "I was calm and I didn't spin or anything. I'm just so
excited to have this opportunity.
"B.J. and John are exactly what I need," said Martien, who holds a degree in
engineering as well as one in business and finance management. "B.J. is
wonderful. He has much more experience than I do, and he can drive the car and
tell John what the set-up needs."
Martien was born in Paris, and the Rolex 24 is a step towards his ultimate
goal: driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "I'm French, so I want to do Le
Mans," he said simply. "That's my ultimate goal, and this is good preparation."
Different Mindset
Martien said that the mindset for racing is completely different from the
mindset he needs for success in his construction business, but he relishes the
challenge. "I'm a go-getter, and in construction it works," he explained. "In
endurance racing you have to be fast but you also have to be very patient.
It's completely different than my business. You have to go as fast as you can,
but you also must be patient.
"When I was young, we drove very fast in Paris, and now when I go into New
York City, the cab drivers fear me," he added with a smile. "Everyone always
said I should try racing rather than just go fast on the street, so three years
ago I put my street Porsche on the track for the first time at a racing
school. The instructors thought I had much more experience, and one thing led to
another and now I'm going to be in the Rolex 24. I got my professional license,
and then I did PCA [Porsche Club of America] races and five World Challenge
races, where I was the top rookie and finished 16th in points even with only
doing five events. I met [drivers] Andy Pilgrim, who always gives me good
advice, and Randy Pobst, and then B.J., and now I'm on my way."
Martien hasn't met his factory Porsche co-drivers yet, but he's impressed by
their resumes. "I couldn't ask for better co-drivers than B.J., Sascha and
Patrick," he said. "Patrick is French; we'll talk French and have a great time,
I'm sure."
Test Coming Up Jan. 3-5
The whole team will practice together at the event's official test on
Daytona's 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course Jan. 3-5.
"It was good that Phillip and I did that last test day in November," said
Zacharias, who has earned a reputation for being consistent and fast since he set
the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA's) formula car set on its ears when he
won the SCCA Formula Continental championship in 1997 and its Formula
Atlantic championship in 1998. "I think we have a really good package. Porsche has
done some good updates. We still have some work to do to sort out the new
Pirelli tires we'll use in 2009, but I think our team is one of the best ones
out there. John has a ton of experience, especially in this race. He really
preps the guys for it. I don't know if we'll have the fastest car there or not,
but I think we'll be prepared.
"The Mazdas will be fast, the Pontiacs will have something up their sleeves
and there will be a ton of good Porsches there, but I think we have a very good
chance of doing well," he added.
"I think my strong suits are consistency, staying out of trouble and bringing
the car back the way it was presented," Zacharias added. "I've always had
two sayings. The first is, 'When you surround yourself with great people, good
things happen.' I cannot think of a better saying that applies to this
situation.
"The second is 'Chop wood,'" he added. "It's a long race, and it's just like
a giant pile of wood to chop. The best way through it is one swing or one
lap at a time."
Zacharias, whose best finish overall at the Rolex 24 was eighth in 2007 in
the TruSpeed/Wright Motorsports Riley Porsche Daytona Prototype, has been giving
Martien advice like that for the last two years while coaching him in PCA and
SCCA SPEED World Challenge events. Zacharias, who finished on the podium at
the Rolex 24 in 2001 in a Lola Sports Racing Prototype II, believes his student
is ready for the challenge ahead.
"He definitely has the drive for it; he's very passionate," Zacharias said of
Martien. "He's one of those guys that if he wants to do something, he'll
find a way to do it. Doing the Rolex 24 is his 50th birthday present to himself,
and he really wants to do well."
Maassen Will Add Star Power
Maassen's involvement will bring added attention to the team. He's most
recently been seen driving a Porsche RS Spyder for Penske Racing in the American Le
Mans Series (ALMS) with great success. He's a two-time GT class winner at the
24 Hours of Le Mans and a four-time GT class winner at both the Mobil 1
Twelve Hours of Sebring and the Petit Le Mans.
His involvement at Daytona in 2009 reunites him with Wright, who was his crew
chief for one of the two previous Rolex 24s in which he has competed in a GT
car. "I also did the race at least six times in the Prototype class," Maassen
added.
"For a 24-hour race, I always hope to have no problems with the car and not
to be involved in any incidents," Maassen said. "If this is the case I am sure
we will be somewhere in the front at the end.
"I do not know the 2009 car, so I am looking forward to this experience," he
continued. "The opposition is also very good every year in the GT class, and
I am sure it will be the same this time."
Pilet Excited Too
Pilet finished third in the GT2 class of the ALMS this year in a Flying
Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911, and he won the Porsche Carrera Cup France
championship in 2007 with Graff Racing.
"It has always been a pleasure for me to race in the United States, and
especially at Daytona," Pilet said. "I think Daytona is actually the most
impressive American speedway because of its banking.
"I feel pretty confident in our chances for the 2009 Rolex 24 because I know
Wright Motorsports is a very good team," he continued. "I know John Wright,
and I know he's very professional. That's why I'm sure we'll have all the means
to be on top.
"Daytona is a very difficult race," he added. "The key is to have a very
reliable and easy-to-drive car, and also to avoid mistakes as much as we can.
"About my teammates, I'm very glad to race with Sascha Maassen, who is a
Porsche factory driver as I am. I've heard very good things about my two other
teammates, and I'm very happy to race with another French driver.
"Our first challenge is to have everyone well prepared and ready for this
very tough race," Pilet continued. "We will have to work hard on the set-up
during the January test, but I'm convinced that we'll able to fight for the
victory.
"I only raced once before at Daytona [2008 in an Alegra Motorsports Porsche],
but it's a race I really enjoy and that I would love to win! I'm really
looking forward to it. I can't wait to begin working with my co-drivers, as well as
all of Wright Motorsports' team members."
Wright Optimistic
The 2009 edition of the Rolex 24 marks Wright's 17th season fielding a car in
this international event. Wright Motorsports has an excellent reputation for
preparing top cars for any race it enters. Assisted by a crew of key people
like Rick Curtin, Paul Nicely and Rob Gambrill, Wright has earned a stellar
reputation as a team owner/manager and race strategist.
Every race is different, but Wright is optimistic about his team's chances in
the 2009 Rolex 24, the 47th annual edition of an event that typically
attracts a "who's who" of name drivers from other forms of racing like NASCAR and
IndyCar in addition to many of the world's top road racers.
"For some reason I feel really good about it; I don't want to jinx it, but we
have a brand-new car from Porsche and it's always nice going into the 24 with
a brand-new car," Wright said. "The driver line-up is very strong. And some
of Phillip Martien's enthusiasm is rubbing off on all of us. He's one of the
most enthusiastic car owners that we've worked with. Phillip's passion and
enthusiasm has brought a lot of excitement to our team because he's been willing
to dedicate his time and his focus on getting us what we need to make it
happen."
Wright said that his team will have to run its car at its full potential to
be able to compete with the Pontiacs and the Mazdas in the GT field.
"It's going to take good race strategy and the reliability of the Porsche,"
he said. "We're going to have to run our car at its full potential the entire
time, and I don't think the Pontiacs and the Mazdas are running at their full
potential yet. My concern right now is that more can be gotten out of the
Pontiacs and the Mazdas. When we go out and practice now, we're running as fast
as the car can go. The Mazdas and the Pontiacs are purpose-built race cars,
while our car started with street car construction and then was turned into a
race car. It's good, but it's a different approach.
"If you go into a 24-hour race running at 100 percent of the car's capacity
instead of 80 percent, you open it up for a failure," he added. "If you don't
have to use the engine, the brakes and the gearbox at their full potential,
you're not hurting the equipment. That's what I'm concerned about at this point.
"The other side of the coin is that the Porsche is a proven piece," he added.
"It's a very reliable, well-engineered and well-built car. It has shown good
speed already. The reliability of the Porsche is one of our main strengths,
but a good finish is going to also take good preparation, good driving, good
race strategy and good luck."