May 12, 2008
CORSA MOTORSPORTS HOPES TO MAKE A STAND AT HOME
Salt Lake City-Based Team Heads To Miller Motorsports Park on the Heels of Consecutive Fourth-Place Finishes

SALT LAKE CITY (May 12, 2008) – Friday night sports fans in the Salt Lake City area will cheer for the home team at the EnergySolutions Arena; Sunday they will cheer for the home team at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP) just outside the city in Tooele.  Competing for face time in a market which is saturated with coverage of the Western Conference Semifinals contender Utah Jazz, Corsa Motorsports seeks its moment in the limelight Sunday when it takes to the 3-mile, 15-turn perimeter circuit just west of Salt Lake City for the American Le Mans Series Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels. 

“There is no place like home,” says Team Owner and Principal Steve Pruitt who lives in near-by Sandy.  “After two street circuits, it’s a delight to race at Miller where the track is fast, smooth and wide open.  This place just has a natural beauty; the mountains are a great backdrop for the event weekend.  We’re certainly looking forward to racing here in the team’s backyard.”

Pruitt’s organization has a long history with MMP.  “Miller Motorsports Park certainly holds a special place in the team’s history,” he explains.  “Our team operations have been based at MMP since the facility’s inception until just recently when we moved into Salt Lake City.  We needed more space to conduct the business of racing at the level required of the American Le Mans Series.” 

Following two fourth-place finishes on street circuits, drivers Gunnar Jeannette (Sandy, Utah) and Johnny Mowlem (UK) are ready to come home to a more-forgiving track where it will turn much faster speeds.

“It’s definitely going to be fast,” Jeannette explains.  “The turns are not as tight as what we’ve seen recently on the street circuits.  You can get through the first four turns in third and fourth gear, which is considerably different from what we’ve experienced the last two times out.” 

Mowlem has spectacular hopes for the weekend.  “We’re aiming for a podium finish in Utah,” he says.  “That’s a tough proposition, given the quality of the opposition. We’ve been very close in the last two events and we’re going for one better.”

Pruitt is hopeful of maintaining the team’s fortune to date, taking care of the equipment and making a respectable finish in front of family and friends.  “We haven’t been in a position to talk about winning and podiums to date, but I don’t feel like it’s too far out of the question.  This weekend we want to make a stand our home turf; if that stand is a podium, so be it.

“This year we enter the event at Miller with race experience, a pair of proven drivers and a team that has had an opportunity to work together, develop chemistry and become comfortable in its skin,” Pruitt continues.  “We know the track very well.  With the familiarity our drivers have with the track and the experience we have as a team, we think we have the potential to do very well this weekend.” 

The American Le Mans Series Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels Round 4 is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. MT Sunday, May 18 with live coverage by SPEED.

Corsa Motorsports
Founded in 2005, Corsa Motorsports is the only professional motorsports team based in Utah. The team operates from a 9,000 square-foot race services and technical facility.  Corsa Motorsports owns two Ferrari 430 LMGT cars and will field an entry in the GT2 class of the American Le Mans Series in 2008, with intentions to field a second entry the latter half of the year. Another Corsa Motorsports initiative is to provide technical race car tuning and performance services for custom race cars beginning in the summer of 2008.  The team is owned and operated by Utah commercial real estate developer Steve Pruitt.