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General Motors Media Press Release

FOR RELEASE: FOR RELEASE: Oct 15, 2000
CONTACT(S):
Kirk Weeks
317-843-5444

Corvette Claims Second Place at Laguna Seca

#4 Corvette C5-R Overcomes Early-Race Incident to Finish Fourth

MONTEREY, Calif. - The Corvette Racing team made it an all-Corvette front row after qualifying first and second for the GlobalCenter Sports Car Championship, and Ron Fellows and Andy Pilgrim went on to drive the #3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Corvette C5-R to a second-place finish in the 2-hour, 45-minute race, Team Corvette's fourth consecutive podium finish in American Le Mans Series competition. Team Corvette was coming off consecutive wins at the Grand Prix of Texas and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Justin Bell in the #4 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Corvette C5-R was hit from behind by the #92 Dodge Viper on Lap 2 and sustained significant damage to the rear of his Corvette C5-R, and the team went two laps down to make repairs. Bell and teammate Kelly Collins battled back from their early misfortune to finish fourth. The #91 Dodge Viper was the race winner. Team Corvette closes out their 2000 race season at the Grand Prix of Las Vegas on Sunday, Oct. 29.

JUSTIN BELL (#4 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Corvette C5-R)
"I really couldn't brake that late on the first couple of laps until the tires warmed up, and Donahue (#92 Dodge Viper) actually hit me once on the first lap and then on that second lap - Boom! - he popped me good and we couldn't do much after that."

ANDY PILGRIM (#3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Corvette C5-R)
"Second's good for the team, but we really didn't have anything for the 91 car. We had a great battle with the 92 car, but we just didn't have our optimum set up for this track."

KELLY COLLINS (#4 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Corvette C5-R)
"We really just played catch-up the whole time. We were two laps down when I got in the car after Justin got hit in the rear. It's one of those unfortunate things that can happen out there, but really did some damage. It ruined our splitter, our rear downforce, the transcooler, and the braking duct. But the team was encouraging the whole time, I did what I could do, kept it out of trouble, tried to help Ron (Fellows) as much as I could, and the team got a second-place finish. We're happy for that."

RON FELLOWS (#3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Corvette C5-R)
"That might have been the worst traffic I've had to battle in a race. I mean it was all race long. And we were chasing the grip all day. We got a bad break on that yellow at the end, but I don't think we were going to catch the 91 car, but we ended up getting bunched up and having a good fight with the 92 car there at the end."

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