Sears Point: Dyson Racing enters two prototypes

Dyson Racing enters two prototypes in Sears Point event.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (April 13, 2002) -- One of America's most successful sports car racing teams has entered two Prototype race cars in Round Two of the 2002 American Le Mans Series championship, the Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Fosters at California's Sears Point Raceway on May 19.

Dyson Racing, which has increased its participation in American Le Mans Series events this season, will run a pair of Riley & Scott MkIIIA-Lincoln machines in the event. Elliott Forbes-Robinson, the inaugural American Le Mans Series champion in 1999, will co-drive with rising star Chris Dyson in one car, while James Weaver and a driver to-be-named will steer the other.

The team, owned by New York businessman Rob Dyson, has not raced at Sears Point since the 1999 season. Forbes-Robinson co-drove to a fourth-place finish in that event on his way to the driver's championship. Dyson Racing did not run any ALMS races in 2000, but returned to compete in four races in 2001 with a best finish of third at Mid-Ohio. Though an exact schedule has not been announced, the team has indicated that it will contest many of the 10 ALMS events scheduled for 2002.

"We welcome Dyson Racing in the American Le Mans Series," said Dennis Huth, President of IMSA, the sanctioning body for the ALMS. "Rob Dyson runs a professional and competitive team that adds a great deal to an event."

After finishing fourth in the season-opening event at Sebring last month, the Dyson team is third in the IMSA Cup standings with one car and fourth with the other. The IMSA Cup is a new competition this season among privateer (non-factory) teams on the American Le Mans Series.

Weaver's normal co-driver, Butch Leitzinger, will not be available for the Sears Point race due to a conflict with a race for the Trans-Am Series at Canada's Mosport International Raceway. Leitzinger is running the full Trans-Am Series this season. An announcement from Dyson Racing as to who will partner with Weaver at Sears Point is expected soon.

Four classes of American Le Mans Series racing machines will compete in the two hour, 45-minute sports car race on the 2.52-mile Sears Point Raceway. The Audi Sport North America team of drivers Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen won last year's race in an Audi R8 Prototype.

The Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Fosters will start at 1 p.m. (PDT) and will be televised live by the SPEED Channel. Live coverage by the American Le Mans Series Radio Web can be heard online at www.imsaracing.net.

Ticket information is available online at www.searspoint.com or by calling the raceway ticket office at 1-800-870-RACE.

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