No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving starting 10th

by Team Seattle on Friday, September 10, 2010 at 9:07pm

TOOELE, Utah (September 10, 2010) – Dempsey Racing’s pair of Mazda RX-8 GTs qualified seventh and 10th respectively for Saturday’s season-ending GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Utah 250 at Miller Motorsports Park where Charles Espenlaub turned the team’s top lap of 1:53.492 (96.683 mph) in the No. 40 VISIT FLORIDA/Dempsey Racing entry.

“There’s definitely more there,” Espenlaub said. “We are going to make some more changes, the Dempsey guys and our lead engineer Kirt Wightman in particular, we all learn things every lap, and we learned a lot again in qualifying. We have improved the car again and watch out for us in the race; it’s going to be a good car.”

Saturday’s race will be the final appearance of the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda that was debuted at this race in September of 2007 by Espenlaub and the team’s lead drivers Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster.

“It was a bit of an unknown for Charles and the VISIT FLORIDA car because we made a major change on the setup of the car before qualifying,” Foster said. “The car needed some help after practice, and it was a good change, and we qualified well. We are happy for the swan song, farewell tour for the chassis that is currently the No. 40 car.”

Gué was just getting into the balance of the 15-minute session in the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving/Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT when he was unintentionally hit from behind by Sylvain Tremblay in the No. 70 Castrol Syntec/SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 GT. He and teammate Leh Keen will start on the outside of row five in tomorrow’s race after qualifying with a lap time of 1:54.691 (95.673 mph).

“Obviously it was very disappointing for the whole Team Seattle/Dempsey Racing crew,” Gué said. “We made a few more changes, the crew has been working hard and the car was good. Sylvain came by and apologized and that’s about all you can say about it. The hit knocked the tow out in the rear but the car can be repaired for the race.”

With just one race remaining on the 2010 schedule, Keen, Gué and the first-year Team Seattle/Global Diving Mazda are on track for a top-three finish in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT Team Championship. The No. 41 currently ranks third with 289 points.

Team owner Patrick Dempsey is hoping to arrive in Utah overnight from Detroit where he is filming a special scene for Transformers 3 at the Packard Museum. If Dempsey is able to break away from his filming schedule, his teammates are hoping he does more than just attend the Utah 250 as a spectator.

“We are hoping to see Patrick but you never really know until the last minute,” Foster said. “I am going to twist his arm and see if we can get him to do the morning warm up and then we won’t let him out of the car.”

Espenlaub is also anxious to see Dempsey return, even if it means he will lose some time behind the wheel of the No. 40.

“Hopefully we get Patrick in the car for a little bit tomorrow so he can get back in the groove again,” Espenlaub said.