July 27, 2007
Canadian Michael Valiante To Pull Double Duty In Montreal
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 27, 2007) – Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ Michael Valiante is scheduled to compete in both the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series and NASCAR Busch Cup (NBS) races in Montreal, Quebec on August 3rd and 4th. The weekend’s on-track action at the famed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve permanent 2.71 mile road course will mark Valiante’s eighth start under the No. 19 Z-Line Design/Mission Residential Lexus-Riley banner in Rolex competition and his inaugural start in the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge for CGRFS.
Valiante joined the CGRFS Daytona Prototype stable when teammate and Finlay Motorsports owner, Rob Finlay, joined forces with the Indianapolis-based team prior to the Virginia International Speedway Grand American race in April 2007. As a result, the No.19 DP has boasted four top-10 finishes in the past seven races; with their second place finish at Iowa Speedway to No. 01 TELMEX CGRFS teammates, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, being the highlight of the season. Although Saturday’s Montreal start will be Valiante’s first NBS start, he was able to gain valuable seat time from a test with the No. 42 CGRFS team prior to the race.
The 27-year old Vancouver-native is no stranger to Montreal. In 2001 through 2003, he raced in the Toyota Atlantic series, which visited the Montreal venue each year. In 2001, Valiante qualified and finished second; to his tutelage, he posted the fastest lap time in the race. His performance in 2003 scored a top-10 seventh place finish out of 29 young competitors, two of whom are current contenders in the Grand American Series, John Fogarty and Alex Gurney. His fourth place finish in 2003 further added to his strong record at Gilles Villeneuve, when he competed against current NASCAR contemporary, A.J. Allmendinger.
Scheduled on-track activities include all-day Grand American and NBS practices on Thursday. On Friday, Valiante will qualify and race the No.01 TELMEX machine for the 400K race as well practicing with the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline NBS car. Saturday will solely be NBS action with qualifying and the race following in the afternoon. The inaugural Grand American race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve occurs on Friday, August 3, at 4:15 p.m. ET. The race will be tape delayed to broadcast on SPEED later that day at 8 p.m. ET. The Montreal 200 NBS race is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, August 4, and will broadcast LIVE on ESPN2, MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128.
CGRFS Driver Quoteboard
MICHAEL VALIANTE: “In prototypes, this is one of the best tracks we are visiting. I really think this race will be a success because it will be well attended and especially has great support from Canadians. Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is an awesome facility and its standards are high, especially since Formula One has been racing here for a long time. The Montreal race weekend will be tough for me because I’ll be racing two cars that are completely different. I plan to get a lot of rest before the weekend; I figure I’ll be in the Rolex car for about an hour and a half on Friday and then another couple hours in the Busch car on Saturday. I feel like I’m ready for the physical demands of the weekend. The biggest difference I noticed between the two cars is the breaking. You really have to make sure you don’t overcharge the Busch car’s breaks. The other main difference is that the Busch car is so much heavier than the Daytona Prototype. Overall, switching between the cars feels natural to me. The Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team is great and has been very helpful and supportive in getting me ready for Montreal. I’m looking forward to a successful weekend in both cars.”