Miracle Motorsport Adds Courage C65 Prototype

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MIRACLE MOTORSPORTS ADDS COURAGE TO AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES LINEUP

Braselton, GA - Based at the heart of racing in Le Mans, France, Courage Competition will supply Miracle Motorsports with their C65 prototype, the company's newest creation built especially for LMP2 competition. More importantly, the Courage factory team raced the specific car obtained by Miracle this past weekend winning the Le Mans Endurance Series race at Silverstone, England.

Miracle Motorsports will debut the car on American soil in this weekend's Road America 500 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

John Macaluso, owner/driver of Miracle Motorsports, realizes the incredible benefits of the C65 in the American Le Mans Series and also hopes to have the chance to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.

"I think the ultimate goal is to win the American Le Mans Series championship this year and get a coveted invite to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year," said Macaluso. "Thus far, we have had to rely on strategy, not speed to get us where we are in the ALMS points right now. We decided it was time to level the playing field and beat Intersport with speed and strategy, so we added the Courage C65 for outright competition purposes.

"Courage Competition shares my passion for racing in the American Le Mans Series and going to the 24 Hours," he said. "Courage will be sending their race engineer and chief mechanic to make sure that we get off on the right foot. If we do have the opportunity to race in France next year, we will be able to use their shop as well which is right there at the circuit in Le Mans. They have given us unbelievable support and we are all very excited about this relationship and the addition of the C65 to the race team."

The Miracle Motorsports dynamic duo of Ian James and James Gue will pilot the new car for the rest of the 2004 season. Gue, who is currently second in driver points behind co-driver James, feels that the C65 will bring the team the extra horsepower needed to win the ALMS LMP2 championship.

"It's very exciting," Gue said. "Adding such a fast car will be a big step up for us that will hopefully give us the extra horsepower needed to win this year's championship. Although I have only seen the car in pictures so far, I have driven high horsepower cars before so it shouldn't be that big of a difference. I will have to adapt a little to the carbon brakes, but other than that, I think we will be the car to beat for the rest of this season."

Miracle Motorsports enters the Road America 500 this weekend leading the ALMS LMP2 team points and feels that the addition of the C65 will add to their chances of securing the 2004 LMP2 championship.

EVENT INFORMATION

The Road America 500 will get the green flag at 1 p.m. (CDT) on Sunday, August 22. Practice and qualifying for ALMS cars will be held on Saturday, August 21, along with an autograph session featuring all ALMS drivers, and a Fan Forum.

Ticket information for the Road America 500 is available online at www.americanlemans.com or by calling 1-800-365-RACE. The race will be televised live by the SPEED Channel in North America and by MotorsTV in Europe, while the American Le Mans Series Radio Web will have live coverage of the race and of qualifying online at www.americanlemans.com