Silas and Sellers Lead Rough Day for TRG KONI Challenge Team in New Jersey

September 2, 2008

MILLVILLE, N.J. -In the first Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series race of his career, rookie Bryan Silas combined with Bryan Sellers to lead a three-car entry from TRG with a 14th-place run in the No. 40 Carlsen Porsche/TRG Porsche 997 at New Jersey Motorsports Park's Thunderbolt Raceway.

"Our shining star for the weekend ends up being our new guy, Bryan Silas," said team owner Kevin Buckler. "Bryan comes in with virtually no road racing experience. He's a NASCAR/ARCA driver and he wanted to get a little experience before he comes to the road course. We've been working with him and he just turned it all on in the race and shined. We put Bryan Sellers in the middle and put Bryan Silas back in at the end, He turned his fastest lap of the race two laps from the end."

"It went really smoothly," Silas added. "The beginning of the weekend was a little struggle for me. I was just getting used to these cars. We had a hell of a car for the whole race. I've definitely got a lot of improvement to do, but this is a great team right here. I learned a lot from TRG with everything they've done. They've been a big help. I want to thank Bryan (Sellers) for everything he's done and I want to thank PBG and everything. It's been a fun weekend."

Unfortunately, the No. 40 machine was the only one of TRG's three entries to be running at the finish of a tough KONI Challenge debut at New Jersey. After starting sixth in the No. 39 Carlsen Porsche/The DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Fox River Coffee Porsche 997, Duncan Ende quickly moved into the top five and ran as high as fourth before pitting to turn the car over to co-driver Spencer Pumpelly just past the one-hour mark in the two-and-a-half hour race.

At the same time, Peter Ludwig-who started seventh-pulled the No. 41 Carlsen Porsche/Cohen Financial/Wolf-Tec Inc./www.WTInc.com/Ludwig-Motorsports Porsche 997 onto pit road from 12th place to hand over the controls to co-driver Scott Schroeder. Both the No. 39 and No. 41 machines were seemingly in position for great results until disaster struck on the ensuing restart.

"The race started off awesome," Buckler said. "It was the best drive of the year, probably, for Duncan. He keeps showing his stuff every race. We had the field covered. We got Spencer in there with Duncan, and at the end we would have had a shot at it. Peter's car had a little bog down, it sounded like, but he drove really well with a whole bunch of stuff going on around him. On the restart with both the new drivers in, they got into a tussle with somebody and lost both of those cars. It was really a bummer. I'm just really disappointed for the whole 39 and 41 crew and the Schroeders and the Endes, because they've all worked so hard. We'll be ready for Miller, get it ready and get it repaired."

The No. 39 Porsche was credited with a 21st-place result, with the No. 41 one spot behind in 22nd. Up next for the TRG KONI Challenge program is the second-to-last round of the 2008 season at Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday, September 21.

TRG was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of sports car racing ever since. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 23, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours or Le Mans.

TRG is a manufacturer and distributor of high-performance racing parts. The group specializes in engine and chassis building as well as full service professional race car preparation. The company also provides electrical and mechanical engineering services, driver development and arrive-and-drive opportunities. TRG is based in Petaluma, Calif., near its home track of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma as well as its new facility in Charlotte.

More information and a complete press kit can be found at www.theracersgroup.com. Please contact press@theracersgroup.com or 707-935-3999 for additional information.

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