AASCO Motorsports Appeals Removal of SGS Pole at Grand Prix of Miami

HOMESTEAD, Fla., February 27, 2004 � David Murry, of Cumming, Ga., drove the No. 16 AASCO Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry to the SGS class pole position for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Miami here at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS). However, in post-qualifying technical inspection, Grand American Rolex Road Racing Series officials declared the rear-wing of the team's car was not a Series approved part and, therefore, the run would be disallowed. Dennis Aase, AASCO Motorsports team owner and manager, immediately appealed the decision- the appeal had to be entered within one hour of the time of the disallowment to Mark Raffauf, Grand-Am Director of Competition. Aase's appeal centers on the legality of the rear wing and rear wing endplates' dimensions. Grand-Am officials announced late in the evening that the final decision rendered for the No. 16 and its starting grid position would be determined on race morning. At this time, the No. 16 AASCO Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry of Murry and Craig Stanton, of Long Beach, Calif., will start 42nd in the field with an approved rear-wing. In qualifying, Murry ran four laps setting the quick time, one minute 21.961 seconds, on his third circuit around the oval/infield road course. Leading up to the fast lap, Murry grabbed the attention of all present when, exiting the oval's turn-four, the car got sideways. Murry, who will start the two hour and 45-minute race before handing driving duties over to Stanton, did a remarkable job of saving the car. Despite being completely sideways on the banking, he was able to set the session's fastest time to that point. The car was quickest in the two proceeding practice sessions of the day. The Grand Prix of Miami will be broadcast on SPEED Channel at 4 pm (EST) on March 7.Dennis Aase, about the disqualification: “We are certainly disappointed and we have appealed the decision to Grand-Am. We admit that the rear wing that we are using is an aftermarket part. The wing is within the dimensions of the rules but, due to the amount of damage suffered to our two cars at the Rolex 24 we were not able to get the correct replacement wing from Porsche in time to compete this weekend. There was certainly no performance advantage gained from this wing. The only structural difference between this and the Porsche wing is that one was built in California and one in Germany. It's in the hands of Mark and the Grand-Am now and we will wait to see what their judgment is to see where we start tomorrow's race.”David Murry, about the qualifying run: "Craig and I spent the weekend working on the set-up. The AASCO team has been incredible all year. They were amazing at Daytona. When they returned to the shop in California they spent the month preparing another virgin Porsche which turned its first wheel here this weekend. With these guys working so hard, it's your turn to work for them (in qualifying). They gave me a great car. On the banking preceding the fast lap the tires weren't quite up to temperature so they didn't have the grip to hold the banking that I had hoped. The car slid up the banking, turned sideways and I had to give-up the throttle and worked really hard at not creating more work for the team. The next lap was the quick lap and I was happier for the team than for myself.”For more on AASCO Motorsports and its 2004 Grand-Am Rolex Series effort please visit www.aascomotorsports.com. ###