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Linda Mansfield
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Alegra Motorsports,
Defending Rolex 24 GT Winner,
Has a Rough Trip in This Year's Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 27 - Alegra Motorsports realized it would be a tall
order to repeat its 2007 GT victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International
Speedway this weekend. The members of the Coral Gables, Fla.-based team didn't
win such a prestigious race without earning their stripes and learning to
accept the "downs" along with the "ups" of professional endurance sports car
racing.

Unfortunately this year luck didn't play in the team's favor, as both of its
Porsche GT3 Cup cars didn't finish the grueling 24-hour race that was
televised live on FOX and SPEED.

The team's lead car, the No. 22, retired around the seven-and-a-half-hour
mark Saturday night with electrical problems after completing 149 laps around the
3.56-mile road course. It ended up 38th in the GT class.

The team's second car, the No. 29, fared better, but it retired Sunday
morning after completing 418 laps for the team's sponsors - Gatorade, TodayMD.com
and Tornos. It ended up 29th in class in the final rundown.

Finishing such a challenging event is always the first goal of the teams that
compete here, but the No. 29 ran over debris, punctured its left-front tire
and crashed into a tire wall in NASCAR Turn 4 with about five hours and 11
minutes remaining in the twice-around-the-clock enduro. Jake Rosenzweig of Boston,
Mass., who was driving at the time, wasn't hurt despite the high-speed
accident.

Neither was Scooter Gable of Tampa, who was behind the wheel when the car
ricocheted of another one on the frontstretch at the initial start of the race
Saturday afternoon. Before its race really started, the No. 29 was 53 laps down
to the overall leader.

Two of the car's other co-drivers, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin of Trois-Rivieres,
Quebec and Bob Woodman of Beaufort, S.C., also had their hands full at times.
Both Dumoulin and Gable were hit by the same Daytona Prototype in separate
incidents. Woodman also tangled with a DP and had a spin at the Bus Stop that
damaged the car's splitter. A fifth driver scheduled to compete in the Porsch
e, Chris Gleason of Johnstown, Pa., never got behind the wheel during the race.

Rosenzweig was in the cockpit when the car suffered a punctured radiator and
left-side damage around the 11-hour, 30-minute mark after hitting a curb and a
wall at the Bus Stop. Despite the problems, the Rolex 24 rookie pointed out
that he never had contact with another car during his stints.

The four drivers of the Alegra Motorsports No. 22 didn't have as many
incidents but they ended up no better. Marc Basseng of Leutenbach, Germany started
the race 20th in the GT class but steadily moved up until he was in the top 10.
With some pitstops by his rivals he was up to fourth in class at one point,
but settled into 12th before turning the car over to team owner Carlos de
Quesada of Coral Gables, Fla.

The latter started getting alarms with some of the car's indicators that
warned of trouble. The electrical problems intensified when Nathan Swartzbaugh of
La Habra Heights, Calif. and Patrick Pilet of Le Chesnay, Yvelines, France
were behind the wheel. The entry also had some gearbox issues. Pilet was
driving when the team decided to call it quits before the electrical problem caused
damage to more of the car's sophisticated systems.

The No. 22 Porsche, a 2008 model that took to the track for the first time
during practice here on Thursday, and the No. 29 Porsche, a 2007 model, were
both worse for wear but will be repaired for the next event March 27-29 at
Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Even the team's winning car from last
year was stripped of some parts in an effort to keep both cars running here
this weekend.

It was a rough for all involved. One of the team's fuelers, Scott "Bam-Bam"
Gray of Fort Pierce, Fla., got run over by the No. 22 during a pit stop,
suffering a badly bruised right foot and a broken toe.

Fans can pull for the team to have better luck by following it in future
events through its Web site at alergramotorsports.com and the series' Web site at
grand-am.com. The Rolex Series races it competes in are televised on SPEED.
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