St. Pete: Shea Holbrook event report

March 26-28, 2010 St. Petersburg, Fla. - Rookie driver Shea Holbrook proves she does have what it takes during last weekend's Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg with World Challenge.

Shea's arrival to the track Thursday kicked off her four day pro debut and first street course race. Shea, Eric Meyer, Randy Pobst and Kuno Wittmer first took to the downtown streets in the St. Petersburg Parade Thursday night along with IndyCar drivers Graham Rahal and Helio Castroneves. Friday Shea confidently took to the 1.8 mile street course in her No. 67 Acura Integra TC (Touring Car) for practice 1&2 and qualifying. Her driving force over the radio was the voice of Crew Chief Marcus Haselgrove with AUTOHAUS MOTORSPORTS. Qualifying 9th Shea and team gridded for round one in Saturday afternoon's race.

Determined to race smart and faster Shea did exactly that. Camera's turned on Shea as she and two other GT cars go almost three wide along the water back straight of the course. The tight squeeze left Shea's rear end inches away from hitting the wall tracking out and left VERSUS announcers speechless on just how she saved that almost horrific crash. Haselgrove proudly announced just a few laps until the checkered that Shea was consistent times and if she could hold her position she'd finish 6th. With a fist pump in the car, Shea crossed the finish line in 6th place.

Sunday morning started round two just before the rain set in. Rivalry was obviously running through the veins of drivers while two full course cautions came out. Shea's No. 67 Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy / EveryLapCounts.com Acura was running strong and nothing seemed to faze Shea's driving ability. Exiting turn two Shea and the CRP Racing yellow Corvette exchanged some paint and taped the No. 67 into the wall. Both drivers handled the small incident and continued driving. While in Shea's pit VERSUS announced how she had commented on the track conditions being much slicker than yesterday, but Holbrook was running a second and a half faster than Saturday's race. Her 6th place streak held strong as she once again took the checkered flag during the 50 minute race. Shea Racing and supporters raised $7,435 for her charity of choice Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.

Shea's performance on track as a driver was more than expectable and her efforts in racing to END Duchenne proves that this young female driver is a winner.

Shea Holbrook:
"This weekend was everything I expected and so much more. Our Parent Project MD / EveryLapCounts.com Acura drove incredible just as we expected. This weekend wouldn't have had been as successful without the support and guidance from everyone with AUTOHAUS MOTORSPORTS who I'm tremendously grateful for. This weekend two new members joined our team, Christian and Grayson. I'm very happy to announce together we raised $7,435 for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy in the fight to END Duchenne. Thank you to everyone who contributed in our racing and charity efforts, we did it! I can only hope I made everyone proud."

-source: shearacing.com