Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Announces Dumbreck for Road America

Peter Dumbreck to Join Dirk M�ller in a Series of Firsts for the Scottish Driver ELKHART LAKE, Wisc., July 31, 2007 � Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing announced today that Peter Dumbreck (born in Scotland but living in Adderbury, England) will co-drive the No. 31 MMPIE/PAWS/Petersen Holdings/Michelin Ferrari F430 GT in defense of the team's two-straight GT2 class victories in the Generac 500 at Road America. Dumbreck, who is currently competing in the Super GT Japan Series as a Toyota factory driver, will join Dirk M�ller (a German now living in Monaco) for Round Eight of the American Le Mans Series at Road America's legendary circuit on August 11. The four hour race marks not only Dumbreck's first drive for the Michael Petersen (Las Vegas, Nev.) owned team but his first stint behind the wheel of a Ferrari F430 GT, his first at Road America, his first time in the American Le Mans Series and also his first race in the United States.Despite being a rookie in North America's premier sports car racing series, Dumbreck is no novice in motorsports. His resume is impressive including an unbroken string of factory-driver positions dating back to 1999. Dumbreck came to road car-based motorsports after an early career winning formula car championships for Jackie Stewart's Stewart Racing. His first experience with professional sports car racing came as a Mercedes “works” driver in 1999 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the closing of the Mercedes Le Mans effort, the German manufacturer moved the 1994 and 1996 Scottish Driver of the Year to the German Touring Car (DTM) series. He earned two victories on his way to third in DTM championship in 2001 and would remain with Mercedes until taking a factory driver role at Opel in 2003. Once at Opel he led the brand's DTM effort finishing twice as its highest-place driver in the point chase.In 2005, Dumbreck was signed as a Toyota factory driver and moved back to Japan where he had earlier won the 1998 All-Japan Formula 3 Championship. Since his Super GT Japan debut, Dumbreck has driven to victory at the prestigious Fuji 500km (2006) and established himself as a leader in the highly competitive series. He also returned to La Sarthe again in 2006 as a factory driver for the Spyker GT2 program. The 1996 Autosport British Club Driver of the Year has six career endurance race starts- twice at Le Mans ('99, '06) and four times at the 24 Hours of N�rburgring ('03-�05, �07).Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing has earned three Road America class victories in the last four seasons (2003, '05-'06) of American Le Mans Series competition. The Dale White (Bozeman, MT) managed team is entering its eighth race in the Ferrari F430 GT having won one event (Salt Lake City) in May. QuotesDale White, Team Manager/Entrant: “While we have not had the opportunity to watch Peter race first-hand, he came highly recommended by Darren Turner. Mike and I have the utmost respect for Darren so when he was not able to race with us because of conflicts we discussed all of our options and decided to go with Peter. From our first conversation I knew Peter was a great fit for our program. We had a number of choices for this drive and we feel comfortable with our decision despite the fact that Peter has not raced the Ferrari or in the American Le Mans Series. When you combine his obvious skill with the Thursday test and a four hour race we feel confident that Peter will be right where we need him to be.” Peter Dumbreck, Driver: About the number of “firsts” he will be undertaking: “It sounds quite daunting. I hadn't quite thought about it that it is my first race with the team, in the Series, with the Ferrari or at this track. I suppose it will be a bit of an eye-opener for me to get into the Ferrari. I have had various driver friends tell me it is a little tricky to drive but I have a lot of experience in different cars so I think I can get my head around it. The main thing for me will be to keep my head down and learn.” About learning at Road America: “I believe that the circuit suits my driving style. I like the faster, flowing circuits rather than the stop-start circuits. Every minute I have in the car is going to help. The fact that the race is four hours should help me. So, it is important that I take my time. At the end of the race I should feel I can't drive any faster on that track.”About the American Le Mans Series: “Everyone is in there because they earned their place. I am not daunted by the competition, I know I am as quick as anyone but people that have three years of history in the Ferrari will have an upper-hand on me. So, I just need to bide my time and learn.”About joining Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing: “As a racing driver you want to get yourself in a position to win races and potentially win championships. We don't do this for fun, we do this to win. To be given the chance to race for Petersen/White Lightning is very attractive. Having spoken to Dale for 30 minutes on the phone you could tell straight-away that he is very passionate about his motorsport. When you talk to someone like that you get a good feeling that it is not a business so much as a passion. These are the type of guys you want to be around because they will do that extra to win races. To be given this opportunity is very humbling. I really hope that I can repay the faith that he and Mike have shown in me. I really want to make the most of it.”The Generac 500 at Road America will start at 5 pm (ET) on Saturday, August 11. Television coverage will be provided by NBC Sports, August 12 at 2:30 pm (ET). The event can be heard live on the American Le Mans Series Radio Web, available through the American Le Mans Series web site from 5-9 PM (ET). Live timing and scoring of each on-track session and the race can be found at www.AmericanLeMans.com. More on Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing can be found at www.PetersenMotorsports.com
To find more on Peter Dumbreck, please visit www.PeterDumbreck.comTo learn more about Ferrari's road cars as well as their remarkable motorsports history, please visit www.FerrariWorld.com.
For more on the ALMS, please visit www.AmericanLeMans.com073107