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Archangel 2002 season review

Archangel'S Ben Devlin gets 2nd in Drivers Championship; Archangel wins a hard fought 3RD in Team Championship. October 21, 2002 Road Atlanta, GA -- Archangel Motorsport scored a 2nd in class and 12th overall in the final round of the 2002 ...

Archangel'S Ben Devlin gets 2nd in Drivers Championship; Archangel wins a hard fought 3RD in Team Championship.

October 21, 2002 Road Atlanta, GA -- Archangel Motorsport scored a 2nd in class and 12th overall in the final round of the 2002 American Le Mans Series season -- the Audi presents Petit Le Mans on Saturday, October 12, 2002.

The team's finish in the endurance classic at their home track of Road Atlanta earned Brit Ben Devlin 2nd place in the LMP 675 Drivers Championship and the team a 3rd in the LMP 675 Team Championship.

This was Archangel's first full season in the ALMS, after winning back-to-back SRPII Championships in the Rolex Sports Car Series -- almost a full season, as the team missed the ALMS season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring.

With the spread between Archangel's 3rd place finish and Intersport's 1st place finish being a mere 12 points, and with Archangel's season long appearance on the 675 podium, many in motorsports believe that had Archangel raced at Sebring -- they most likely would have taken home the championship trophy.

It was not an easy year for Archangel, having lost long-time teammate and friend Jeff Clinton in an accident at Homestead early in the season, and making the switch to the ultra-competitive ALMS. It's a testimony to the strength and commitment of the Archangel squad and the leadership of sports car's youngest team owner -- Mike Johnson -- that they did so well.

"It was really a hard year for our team -- dealing with Jeff's death," said team owner Mike Johnson. To come back from that and finish 2nd in the Driver's and 3rd in the Team Championships is a major accomplishment. Had we competed at Sebring we would have won them both. We had tough competition this season from teams that just wouldn't quit -- my hat's off to them! Missing Sebring also excluded us from the Privateer Points fund - which requires that a team compete in all of the season's races. But even without Sebring, Archangel scored more points than any other team -- showing both the team's reliability and competitive capability. We did the whole season on only one rebuilt -- and amazing fact that shows the incredible strength and reliability of the Millington engine. We're working very hard to enter and compete in the full 2003 ALMS season with not one, but two Millington-powered Lola B2K/40s. I'd like to thank my entire team for a great season -- and congratulations to Ben as well."

"What can I say -- I mean the whole team did a wonderful job," said a very happy Ben Devlin. "A lot of people thought that I'd be disappointed with 2nd, but I'm absolutely over the moon -- it's great. Who'd of ever thought I'd be in 2nd when we started the championship -- and our result today of 2nd place is great as well and just like last year. The whole Archangel team has done a fantastic job all season long in prepping and running the car. Marshall Cooke has done a great job backing us with the money and giving us a great Millington engine. Things are looking really strong for next year so hopefully we'll be back -- taking the title this time!"

"We knew that we had a handicap of a few seconds per lap," said George Forgeois. "Our strategy was to do the race with no mistakes so that we'd be there at the end -- and if we did that we'd probably be on the podium -- which is exactly what we did. We even ended up one step higher -- in 2nd -- than we'd hoped. I'm very happy with our result and for Ben's 2nd place in the Driver's Championship. Ben is great and I'm glad I did my job to help him secure it -- although he really did all the work.

"We had a great run -- 2nd last year and 2nd this year -- you can't ask for much more than that," said Jason Workman. Just to finish an endurance race like Petit is feat in and of itself. I'd like to thank the team -- they were just unbelievable. George did a great job, Ben did a great job, and what else can I say? Another second place!"

Additional information on the Archangel organization is available to you at www.archangelmotorsports.com and on Ben Devlin at www.bendevlin.com.

-am-

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