Trois-Rivieres second race added

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLAYER'S/TOYOTA ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP ANNOUNCES $170,000 DOUBLE HEADER AT TROIS-RIVIERES

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (May 28) - - The Player's/Toyota Atlantic Championship has officially added a second race during the 27th Grand Prix Player's de Trois-Rivieres, to be held in the streets of Trois-Rivieres, Que., on August 2-4, making it one of the richest overall race weekends for any open-wheel development series in the world. A combined two-race total posted purse of $170,000 will be awarded to the top-15 finishers in each race.

The new race date, which will be round seven of the 12-race series, is Saturday, August 3, and will be followed by round eight on Sunday, August 4. Saturday's race will be a 30-lap sprint with a posted $70,000 purse, while Sunday's eighth round action will checker flag after 40-laps, with an eye-opening $100,000 in total prize money. The Atlantic "double-header" will take center stage as part of a Grand Prix weekend which will host seven racing series, including an SCCA Trans-Am Championship race on Sunday.

Trois-Rivieres marks the second consecutive year that the Player's/Toyota Atlantic Championship has run back-to-back races at the Grand Prix Player's de Trois-Rivieres. In last year's dual thriller, Richie Hearn captured the pole position for both events and sprinted to a flag-to-flag victory in the second race. David Empringham captured first race honors after taking the lead from Hearn on the 15th lap and extending his advantage to a 5.835-second margin of victory.

"The Atlantic series is now in its third decade of competition at the Grand Prix Player's de Trois-Rivieres," said Vicki O'Connor, President and CEO of Pro-Motion Agency Ltd., whose company runs the Atlantic series. "Needless to say, Trois-Rivieres is one of the favorite stops on the Atlantic circuit. The double-header races and terrific prize money for these races promises to bring a very large field of cars for another historic Atlantic event at Trois-Rivieres."

The addition of a second race at Trois-Rivieres is in keeping with the philosophy of offering a true development series for future Indy Car and Formula One drivers and teams. The 1996 Atlantic schedule includes seven races in the United States and five in Canada, on a variety of oval tracks, road courses and street circuits. The season will culminate with the Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway (Calif.).

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