Riley Makes History at Daytona Once Again

Riley Makes History at Daytona Once Again

Media Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
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Images of the race-winning Riley Daytona Prototypes available at www.sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com

Daytona Beach, FL (1 February 2011)—A thrilling finish completed a record-setting race weekend at Daytona International Speedway for Riley Technologies as the No. 01 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates BMW-Riley won the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona. Scott Pruett drove under the checkered flag just 2.4 seconds ahead the sister Ganassi team entry driven by Scott Dixon at the finish.

The top four cars finished the race separated by just under four seconds after 24 hours of racing, with all four utilizing the Riley Technologies Daytona Prototype mated to three different engine manufacturers. The weekend opened with the No. 45 Flying LIzards Porsche-Riley setting a new track record for the category in qualifying.

The victory is the seventh Rolex 24 race win in a row for Riley, a remarkable feat in the grueling event, which will celebrate its 50th running in 2012. The victory also marked the tenth Rolex 24 At Daytona overall race victory for a Riley-designed machine in the last 16 years.

Leading 231 of 721 laps, the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW-powered Riley dominated the event after starting third on the nearly fifty-car GT and Daytona Prototype grid. The win is Ganassi’s fourth in the event, all achieved with Riley equipment.

“It is truly awesome,” Pruett said. “To have a 1-2 finish is just incredible. Our No. 01 car has finished every lap here the last five years and won it three times. That in itself is a true testament to what the Ganassi organization does and the preparation on getting this car on the track. They’ve been busting their butts getting our cars ready for this race since October.”

The Riley machines were once again the class of the field, leading 667 of the 721 laps run as a total of 27 different drivers lead the race.

Riley Technologies also had a presence on the GT Class podium at Daytona after Dempsey Racing took its strongest-ever finish in the event as Patrick Dempsey, Charles Espenlaub, Tom Long, and Joe Foster combined to score third with the SpeedSource Engineering-built Mazda RX-8.

“Congratulations to then Ganassi organization on the 1-2 finish,” offered Riley Technologies VP Bill Riley. “It is an incredible achievement just to finish this race, but to take a 1-2 team finish is amazing. Having four of our cars fighting it out on the last lap for the win was exciting, to put it lightly! We are fortunate to have such competitive and hard working teams racing our designs and achieving this kind of success.
“It was also great to see the Dempsey Racing guys on the Daytona podium after they picked up their first GRAND-AM last season. We could not have been more pleased with how this weekend went, and we are already looking forward to racing again at Homestead.”

Notes:
++ 76th Rolex Series race victory for Riley Technologies
++ 7th consecutive Rolex 24 race win for Riley Technologies
++ 10th overall Rolex 24 race victory for Riley-designed machines in 15 most recent events
++ New Track Record (Jorg Bergmeister Riley Mk XX-Porsche 1:40.039 seconds)

Rolex 24 Hour Victories by Riley-designed machines:
1996 Riley & Scott MKIII-Olds Doyle Racing (Riley Factory Team)
1997 Riley & Scott MKIII-Ford Dyson Racing
1999 Riley & Scott MKIII-Ford Dyson Racing
2005 Riley Mk XI-Pontiac SunTrust Racing (Riley Factory Team)
2006 Riley Mk XI-Lexus Ganassi Racing
2007 Riley Mk XI-Lexus Ganassi Racing
2008 Riley Mk XI-Lexus Ganassi Racing
2009 Riley Mk XI-Porsche Brumos Racing
2010 Riley Mk XI-Porsche Action Express Racing
2011 Riley Mk XX-BMW Ganassi Racing

The firm will look to add to the trophy collection in Daytona Prototype, Rolex GT, and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition March 4-5 at Homestead Miami Speedway.

For more information or questions, please contact: Bill Riley, (704) 663-6319 *302

For additional information:
www.rileytech.com

About Riley Technologies:
Riley Technologies has an extended legacy of success, developing competitive on-track products for the Rolex Sports Car Series, the American LeMans Series, the USAC Gold Crown Series, and the Japanese GT Championship Series.

About Siemens:
Riley Tech has long relied on Siemens PLM Software to help design and develop their race-winning machines. NX software, Siemens PLM Software’s digital product development solution which includes computer-aided design, -manufacturing and -engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) applications, is the preferred development software. NX Software was cited as a driving force behind Riley taking a sixth straight Daytona Prototype Manufacturers championship in 2009 before kicking the 2010 season off with a win at Daytona International.

For more information or questions, please contact: Bill Riley, (704) 663-6319 *302

For additional information:
www.rileytech.com