2003 Pikes Peak Int'l Hillclimb
      For immediate release
      June 28, 2003

      Subaru’s Lovell, Lagemann, Air Force Reserves’ O’Neil On Podium for ProRally
      At Falken Tire Pikes Peak International Hillclimb 

      COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Mark Lovell stood by his Subaru Impreza WRX 
      moments after winning the Pike’s Peak International Hillclimb and after a 
      bit, a smile big enough to erase a frustration-filled early season spread 
      across the British driver’s face.

      "The pressure was on us coming in," said Lovell, who had finished just one 
      rally event this season - a second-place finish at Rim of the World. "This 
      was great for us and to make it a double (referring to his second-straight 
      win at the PPIHC) is just amazing."

      Lovell set a new PPIHC Open class record with a time of 11:39.63, beating 
      his own record of 11:52.69 set a year ago. His Subaru teammate, Ramana 
      Lagemann, followed close behind with a time of 11:43.65, a time that was 
      also better than the previous record. It was a run that Lagemann badly 
      needed, considering he had only one, fifth-place finish to show for his 
      year’s work leading up to the PPIHC. 

      Lagemann’s run wasn’t without some excitement however. About a mile from 
      the summit, Lagemann’s WRX began sputtering and almost stalled at a few of 
      the hair-pin turns at the end of the 12.52-mile stage. Post-race 
      evaluation later revealed a loose wire harness as the culprit.

      "We didn’t know what it was out there," said Lagemann. "It went way down 
      on power and started smoking a bit, and went into fail-safe mode. We just 
      kept it going along."

      "We came in here as a team wanting to finish one and two. It didn’t really 
      matter how we ended up as long as we got first and second and we got it 
      done."

      The finishes were a badly-needed boost of momentum for Team Subaru, which 
      had not won any events this year. The boost came when Lauchlin O’Sullivan 
      recorded his second DNF in as many events by striking a very solid object 
      at Glen Cove with his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, nursing the car to 
      within 800 yards of the finish, teammate David Higgins’ Lancer Evolution 
      suffered serious driveline problems at the "W’s" portion of the stage, but 
      he soldiered on for essential manufacturer class points, crawling to the 
      summit in first gear. With the win and second-place finish, Team Subaru 
      closed the gap considerably in the Class Manufacturer point standings. 
      With the 35 points earned at PPIHC, Subaru Rally Team USA now trails Team 
      Mitsubishi Motor Sports America in the Open class standings, 85-56. 

      In Group N, Wolfgang Hoeck validated last year’s stunning PPIHC win with 
      his own record-breaking performance on Saturday. Hoeck, in his 2002 
      Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII, posted a time of 13:21.61, breaking his old 
      mark of 13:51.51. 

      "There was some doubt to the time we posted last year because of some 
      timing and scoring issues," said Hoeck. "So I really wanted to see if I 
      could run the times again. It wasn’t a trouble-free run, we picked up some 
      dirt in the wheel wells, but Julie (Lin - his wife and co-driver) kept 
      pushing me to the top and we made it. It was a great run." 

      Wyeth Gubelmann, with co-driver Therin Pace, finished four seconds behind 
      Hoeck, both of whom were competing in only their second events of the 
      season. Shane Mitchell and co-driver, Paul Donnelly, tightened up the 
      Group N point race between them and Mark Utecht/Jeff Secor by placing a 
      strong third leaving just one point between the two teams.

      Secor said that he and Utecht were just glad to finish the intense stage 
      with its razor-edge drop-offs and majestic heights. "I didn’t ever see 
      God," said Secor. "But I’m pretty sure I heard him a couple of times."

      New to the SCCA ProRally Hillclimb field this year was the exhibition 
      only, two-wheel drive class, consisting of two regular Group Five 
      competitors. While Doug Shepherd’s run in his 2003 Dodge SRT-4 did not 
      count for ProRally Championship points, his time of 13:19.09 bested all of 
      the cars in the all-wheel drive Group N class and proved, along with Chris 
      Havas’ solid 14-minute rookie run, that 2WD SCCA ProRally cars have a 
      place at the Peak. 

      It wasn’t the first time on the Peak for Shepherd. After a several-year 
      absence, Shepherd made his long-awaited seventh dash to the summit. 

      "This was probably second best," said Shepherd. "The fastest I ever went 
      was in 1989 when I had a Production GT Daytona. We were under thirteen 
      minutes and had similar track conditions to what we had today. But today 
      was a blast."

      Havas, in his 2001 VW Golf, finished with a respectable time of 14:10.32. 

      From here, the 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship heads to the great 
      Northwest and Hillsboro, Ore., for the Oregon Trail Rally , the fifth 
      round of the Championship, July 12-13. For more information regarding 
      Oregon Trail, visit www.scca.com or www.oregontrailrally.com. 
       
      Pikes Peak International Hillclimb - SCCA ProRally Championship Round #4
                                       June 27, 2003
  
                     Official Results for 81st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

   Car# Class Driver          Country Co-Driver     Country      Car                       Race Times
       52  2WD   Doug Shepherd       USA Cindy Krolikowski USA 2003 Dodge SRT-4               13:19.09
       62  2WD   Chris Havas         USA Dave Kean         UK  2001 VW Golf                   14:10.32

       89  GN    Wolfgang Hoeck      USA Julie Lin         USA 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7   13:23.61
      103  GN    Wyeth Gubelmann     USA Therin Pace       USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX        13:25.67
       45  GN    Shane Mitchell      IRE Paul Donnelly     IRE 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX        13:43.43
       83  GN    Mark Utecht         USA Jeff Secor        USA 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX        13:49.90
      470  GN    Geoffrey Maguire    AUS David Fiddyment   AUS 2000 Subaru Impreza            14:00.05

        4  Open  Mark Lovell         UK  Roger Freeman     UK  2004 Subaru Impreza WRX        11:39.63
        5  Open  Ramana Lagemann     USA Michael Orr       UK  2004 Subaru Impreza WRX        11:43.65
       29  Open  Tim O’Neil          USA Alex Gelsomino    USA 2002 Ford Focus                12:13.60
       86  Open  Masayuki Akaba      JAP Takako Akaba      JAP 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7   12:14.87
      374  Open  Leon Styles         NZ  John Dillon       USA 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5 12:29.43
      456  Open  Brian Moody         USA Erika Lucero      USA 1990 Audi S2                   13:41.33
       84  Open  JB Niday            USA Al Kintigh        USA 1997 Subaru Impreza            15:12.07
        1  Open  David Higgins       UK  Daniel Barritt    UK  2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo     37:38.68
        6  Open  Lauchlin O’Sullivan USA Christian Edstrom USA 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo     DNF
       88  Open  Doug Havir          USA Scott Putnam      USA 1999 Subaru Impreza WRX-Sti    Withdrawn

      Information regarding the classes:
      Car # = number on vehicle. 
      Class = Open or FIA Gr. N - while stock appearing on the outside, using 
      current bodyshells, SCCA Open class cars have considerable modifications 
      to their running gear, and feature highly tuned 4-cylinder turbocharged 
      engines and all-wheel-drive. Minimum weight is 2700 pounds. FIA Group N 
      cars also feature all-wheel-drive and turbocharged 4-cylinder motors, 
      but are much closer to street cars that you can buy - all bodywork must 
      remain stock, and engine modifications are very restricted.

      Media Contact & Web Information: 
        Curtis Kitchen, SCCA, Inc., Public Relations Manager
        e-mail: ckitchen@scca.com Mobile: 785.633.7977
        SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org/
        DonnaRay Anderson, PPIHC media coordinator; E-mail: pressinfo@ppihc.com
        Pikes Peak International HillClimb: http://www.ppihc.com

      The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of 
      America, Inc. ProRally, ClubRally and RallyCross are service marks of the SCCA.