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GM Media Press Release

FOR RELEASE:  July 7, 2002
CONTACT(S):
Wally Reese, GM Racing Communications
303-979-1133
wareese@earthlink.net

Corvette Racing - Road America 500 to Corvette 1-2 in GTS

ROAD AMERICA - Round No. 4 of 10
American Le Mans Series

• Weather: Very Humid - 100 (F) unofficial degrees in the pits
• Entry: 8 LMP900 – 6 LMP675 - 6 GTS - 10 GT - 30 TOTAL
• Track Length: 4.00 miles Track temp at start 110 (F)degrees

ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. - The team of Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins pushed their No. 4 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Corvette to fifth overall and a GTS class win in the first ever Road America 500 for American Le Mans Series cars. It was the first win of the year for the duo and the fourth for Corvette in the 2002 ALMS.

Corvette Racing continued the team win streak to five consecutive races extending back to the last race of 2001, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the first three races in the ALMS in 2002.

Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell and Oliver Gavin in the No. 3 GM Goodwrench C5-R team car, led for much of the early stages of the race, exchanging the lead with the No. 26 Saleen S7R. When the Saleen pulled up with mechanical problems mid-race it became a Corvette versus Corvette contest with the No. 0 Ferrari 550 Maranello lurking in third.

When the No. 3 car dislodged the window net during a driver change, they were forced to make two pits stops to secure the offending net with tie-wraps The extra stops turned the lead over to Collins in the team car. The Fellows/O’Connell team finished sixth overall and second in GTS. The No. 0 Ferrari finished third two laps behind the second Corvette.

"This Corvette Racing team is so strong," said Kelly Collins following the race, "that when one car runs into problems the other team is able to pick up the load. We are allowed to race each other just so there is no contact between us. There are no team orders.

"The No. 4 car has been strong all year," said Collins, "but we’ve had small problems like a stuck throttle and getting tapped at the last second. We have great equipment and it always a green light for us to race."

"I love this track," said co-winner Pilgrim, " and I was very comfortable here today despite the heat. We have to give a lot of credit to our GM Racing and Pratt and Miller engineers for this one. We made an engineering change on the car after my first of three stints and the car was perfect. It is great to win here because Road America is a real race track and my favorite in North America.’

After two straight winning weekends, Team Corvette gets next weekend off before heading to the inaugural ALMS race in Washington, D. C. The Cadillac Grand Prix of Washington D.C. will be a 2-hour 45-minute race around a temporary circuit at RFK Stadium, July 21.

Corvette is defending GTS class champion in the American Le Mans Series winning six of 10 races in 2001 plus Daytona and le Mans 24 hour races.

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