Grant Ryley and the World Speed Motorsports team today fell victim to contact with another driver which prematurely ended the Saratoga, California driver’s Road America Atlantic race with four laps remaining. Ryley, who started ninth and worked his way up to seventh succumbed to damage sustained to the left rear suspension at turn five on the race’s opening lap.
“On the bright side, we had a terrific car all weekend,” said Ryley, who was credited with finishing 16th. “The Doy (Mike Doyle – engineer) really put together a great car for this race. Unfortunately, we never had a chance to show what we could really do. On the opening lap, I was going through turn five and Ave drove right into my left side. It toed the left rear, which eventually broke the tripod that holds the halfshaft in. After that, the balance of the car was way off, but we still managed to move up a couple of positions. Eventually, it just gave way and we had to pull out with only a few laps remaining. It just goes to show what starting mid-pack can do to you. If the trunion bolt hadn’t broken in qualifying, we definitely would have started near the front and avoided this whole mess. But, that’s just part of the game. We feel good about the car and Vancouver is a new race for us.”
As a result of today’s finish, Ryley slips to 10th overall in the 2001 CART Toyota Atlantic points standings and is fifth in the rookie championship with 47 points. Hoover Orsi won today’s race from the pole and was followed by Jonathan Macri and Joey Hand.
Today’s race will be televised via espn2 on Sunday, August 26 at 10:00 am ET, with an encore presentation scheduled for Saturday, September 1 at 4:30 am ET. Round 10 of the 2001 CART Toyota Atlantic series takes place on Sunday, September 2 in Vancouver, Canada, as part of the Molson Indy Vancouver CART FedEx Championship weekend.
Further information is available on the team’s website at www.worldspeed.com as well as the official Atlantic series site at www.toyotaatlantic.com