| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 1, 1999 | Contact: | Jeff Zwart, Antlers Adams Mark (719) 473-5600 or Andy Schupack, KGPR (401) 739-5677 Andrew_Schupack@compuserve.com |
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado -- With the second day of practice for 77th annual Pikes Peak International Hillclimb coming to an end, the top three competitors for the High Performance Showroom Stock class are within seconds of each other, and the tensions of the race are already being felt.
Defending class champion Jeff Zwart, from Woody Creek, Colo., said that he has never run so hard on the second day of practice, making sure both he and the car will be able to stay with his very fast rivals. Zwart and his Porsches have won his class at Pikes Peak for the past five years, but thinks this year will be the most challenging.
"Both David Donner in his Subaru Impreza WRX and Rhys Millen in a Nissan Skyline GTR are going fast early in practice, and we have to make sure we drive hard and make the adjustments to our Porsche Turbo-S to keep pace with their times," said Zwart.
"We improved significantly from the first day of practice, concentrating Wednesday on getting the car in and out of the hairpins most efficiently," said Zwart.
Unofficial times at the end of practice Wednesday showed Donner's Subaru ahead of Zwart's Porsche by 1/2-second, with Millen only two seconds behind. In fact, on the last run of the day, Zwart and Donner finished in a flat-footed tie. The High Performance Showroom Stock class has one more day of practice before their Friday qualifying runs.
As 42 percent of the Pikes Peak course is made up of 156 right and left-hand turns, teams will be spending their last day of practice fine-tuning their driving skills and race cars for the entrance to and exit from those corners.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will be "webcast" live this year for the first time, starting at 10:00 AM (Mountain time) on July 4, with feature still photos every three minutes, results from each division, and live audio commentary from KRDO-AM radio, which is broadcasting the event locally. The webcast, as well as all pre-race and post-race information, will appear on the official Pikes Peak web site http://www.ppihc.com.
The race cars practice from June 29 - July 1, qualify July 2 - July 3, and race on July 4.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is held annually on July 4 in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs and the U.S. Forest Service. Its 12.42-mile course on a groomed gravel highway to the 14,110-ft. summit of Pikes Peak is open to the public year-round.
Porsche Cars North America -- Bob Carlson, Public Relations bcarlson@pcnaidcs.com
Zwart Design Group Racing Website: http://www.zwartracing.com