Duncan Ende Racing - TRG Porsche 997

Adam · January 21, 2009

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<table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 100%;" id="content_LETTER.BLOCK2" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 3pt;" styleclass="style_MainText"> Hi everybody,

I am getting on my flight to Orlando today to head to Daytona for the real start of our 2009 season today and wanted to bring you all up to date on just what I'm driving this weekend! As well as driving the #39 Porsche with Spencer Pumpelly in the Koni Challenge Fresh From Florida 200 on Friday afternoon, I am also officially driving TRG's #68 GT car in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona! The stars aligned and my Koni Challenge teammate of the past two season Scott Schroeder and I will both be in the car in the big race this weekend. A big thanks to all who wished me luck on this. I've included the team's press release below, but if I can I'll also send out some updates throughout the weekend. I hope to report that we kicked the new season off in style!<o:p></o:p>

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TRG Ready to Open KONI Challenge Season at Daytona

TRG is ready to open the 2009 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge season on January 23 at Daytona International Speedway. The team will field two cars to start, what hopes to be, a championship run.

Although the current rules configuration does not favor the Porsche 911 GS cars, the drivers are confident that the professional TRG approach to preparation, speed and strategy can still have a chance to win on Friday.

Duncan Ende and Spencer Pumpelly will be driving the No. 39 The DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Fox River Coffee Racer's Roast/TRG Porsche 997. The duo ran a lot of laps at the test in early January to prove out the work that the team has done on the cars over off season. Ende will be relying on TRG's strengths come Friday.

"Strategy always plays a big role in KONI Challenge races, but since Daytona is at least a half hour longer than our normal races we have even more to work with in the race strategy department than usual," Ende said. "Since we also have a bigger disadvantage to the more powerful Mustangs there than anywhere else we race, our pit strategy is really essential to a good result. With its emphasis on straight line speed over cornering ability, Daytona never shows our cars at their best. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the way our car was working at the end of the test days. Spencer and I will be happy to have a solid race and take home decent points instead of the big goose egg we had in Daytona last year."

Ende will also be running in the Rolex 24 hour. He will be driving the No 68 James Farrell & Co./Pallis Properties, Inc./COLO Columbia River Logistics/Cohen Financial/TRG Porsche GT3.

"I'm really excited about driving the 68 car in the Rolex 24 this year! My goal for the car as a whole is for us to have a clean and consistent race in which we only see the pit lane for fresh tires and to fill our fuel tank. If we manage that, I think we have a very good chance at going home with a good result. My personal goals are to show what I can do in a very competitive GT field and do my absolute best for the team. We have such a solid team from top to bottom, both drivers and crew, that I cannot wait for things to finally kick off!"

In the No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997 John Potter and Andy Lally are poised for a strong run. The pair worked well together in the early January test and are looking forward to getting the season going.

"While I have done several GT races, this will actually be my first KONI Challenge race," Potter said. "I am looking forward to seeing how the strategy is different. I do know that KONI races are extremely tight and very competitive. With the cars being so balanced by Grand-Am I know that strategy can make all the difference. I have had a great relationship with the TRG KONI crew, who are far more experienced than I am. I am looking forward to the "strategy" challenge. The KONI car felt great after the test day. I was a little nervous at first after driving the GT car at the same event. I didn't want to throw the GS car off or something trying to do what I could do in the GT car. It's very responsive, thanks to Andy Lally's help with set-up and the crew, the car did exactly what I told it to do. There were a few things that I am still working through but nothing that we can't deal with before the race."

Potter will also be running the Rolex 24 in the No. 65 Riegel-Stanton/Cystic Fibrosis Foundation/65 Roses/Magnus Racing/Marquis Jet/Resorts International/IPC/Total Lubricants/TRG Porsche GT3.

"Well this will be the longest race I have ever done. I have some great co-drivers and I hope to learn as much as I can while going as fast as I can, avoiding mistakes. I think we have a great opportunity to do well in the 24. It should be fun."

Kevin Buckler, team owner, is looking for some parity with the rules in KONI Challenge.

"We did a great deal of work over the winter on our KONI program," Buckler said. "At the test the Mustangs would just motor by us. With our setup and driving talent we were able to make up a little distance in the infield and the Bus Stop but with the run from NASCAR turn one to the entry of the Bus Stop and then the exit down to the road course turn one they just walk away from us. There has been a small competition adjustment, but it is not close to being enough. We will have to rely on excellent pit work, great driving and some extreme strategy calls to be in contention. I am looking forward to this first race of the season."

TRG was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of motor racing ever since. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 25, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. TRG's young KONI Challenge team has logged two wins and recorded seven podium finishes in their first two seasons of competition.

TRG is a manufacturer and distributor of high-performance racing parts. The group specializes in engine and chassis tuning as well as full service professional race car preparation. The company also provides electrical and mechanical engineering services, driver development and arrive-and-drive opportunities. TRG is based in Petaluma, Calif., near its home track of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. The company's NASCAR operation is based in Mooresville, North Carolina with a new state-of-the-art facility coming on-line at New Jersey Motorsports Park in late 2009.

More information and a complete press kit can be found at http://www.theracersgroup.com, http://www.trgmotorsports.com, and http://www.theracersgroup.com/newjersey. Please contact press@theracersgroup.com or (707) 935-3999 for additional information.

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www.duncanende.com<o:p></o:p>

Racer's Roast Coffee<o:p></o:p>

The DigiTrust Group<o:p></o:p>

Adam's Polishes<o:p></o:p>

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eleven357 · January 21, 2009

Yeah good luck Duncan!

Will these races be televised?

SPEED maybe?

jjwvette · January 21, 2009

Awesome....good luck Duncan :cheers:

Adam · January 21, 2009

More info here: http://www.grand-am.com/koni/schedule/event.cfm?eid=877

:2thumbs:

Marylander · January 21, 2009

Coo! Good luck, Duncan & crew!

70'sChevyGirl · January 21, 2009

Go Team!!

Adam · January 23, 2009

RACE UPDATE: Duncan just qualified 5th, fastest Porsche, up there with those powerful Mustangs and BMW's!

Go Duncan!!! :burnout:

Bill-V8V · January 23, 2009

Go Team!!

We really need to hold a fundraiser to upgrade you :lolsmack:

Adam · January 24, 2009

Vette Girl, it's official: I'm going to sponsor your Photobucket plan so your images don't go AWAL. You are the absolute BOMB, and your images are worthy, very worthy. :rockon:

So, I await your reply, and look forward to upgrading your status with the Bucket!! :2thumbs:

Bill-V8V · January 24, 2009

She sure is high maintenance :lolsmack:

Adam · January 24, 2009

She sure is high maintenance

Ahhh, but worth every penny!!!!!! :banana:

Adam · January 24, 2009

More:

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If you have trouble reading this email,

view the web version here. <o:p></o:p>

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</td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0.1in 0.05in 0.05in; background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> TRG Finishes Eighth in KONI Challenge Opener at Daytona<o:p></o:p>

January 24, 2009<o:p></o:p>

Daytona Beach, Florida- TRG’s Duncan Ende and Spencer Pumpelly drove their Porsche to an eighth place finish today in the Fresh From Florida 200 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge season opener.<o:p></o:p>

Ende started the No. 39 DigiTrust Group/Adam’s Polishes/Fox River Coffee Racer’s Roast/TRG Porsche 997 from his fifth place qualifying position. Ende proceeded to run in the top five, doing a double stint. When he turned the Porsche over to Pumpelly the team was running strong in seventh.<o:p></o:p>

“I had a pretty good double stint,” Ende said. “I was able to run up with the leaders and we were keeping a pretty good pace. Doing the double stint we didn’t put tires on, so I was an hour and forty five minutes on the same set of tires, which is asking a lot. I made a couple of small mistakes, but when I gave the car to Spencer we were in solid shape.”<o:p></o:p>

During the yellow plagued three hour race, eight cautions for 31 laps, the restarts played havoc on the No. 39. The big V8 cars would be able to pull away on the restarts negating any advantage the TRG drivers were able to gain.<o:p></o:p>

“We are really good in the infield,” Pumpelly said. “Then when we get up on the bank the Mustangs just blow by us. The car was handling excellent, we just don’t have the horses to challenge them. Duncan did a great job doing a double stint. He qualified well and ran upfront all race. We had no issues with the car. It is just frustrating running in the top 10 and really not battling for a chance to win.”<o:p></o:p>

In the No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997 John Potter and Andy Lally ran into trouble early in the race. John Potter started the Porsche from the 12th row and following the first caution period lost third gear and eventually fourth. He pitted on lap 18 and turned the car over to Lally.<o:p></o:p>

“During the first caution I lost third gear,” Potter said. “Then I also lost fourth. I was going through the Bus Stop turn in fifth. It became tough to keep the momentum of the car up. I turned the car over to Andy to see if he could nurse it home for some points.”<o:p></o:p>

Lally took over and soon lost all drive to the rear wheels of the 997.<o:p></o:p>

“When I got in I had first, second, fifth and sixth gear,” Lally said. “It wasn’t fun to drive, but it wasn’t impossible either. Then around lap 37 it went to total neutral. We weren’t breaking gears. I think it was in the internal linkage somewhere.”<o:p></o:p>

Kevin Buckler, team owner, was satisfied with the performance of the team and worried about the future.<o:p></o:p>

“Duncan and Spencer had to drive the tires off the car to place in eighth,” Buckler said. “We really have to kill the car to keep up with the Mustangs and BMW’s. We just burn down the car and then when it is time to race at the end we have nothing left. Spencer can race with anyone, anywhere, but with our competition disadvantage we are just asking too much from him and Duncan. John and Andy did a great job this weekend. John has been getting so fast and is really a “heads up” driver. We have a championship caliper team, we just need the opportunity to make things exciting at the front.”<o:p></o:p>

TRG was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of motor racing ever since. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 25, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. TRG’s young KONI Challenge team has logged two wins and recorded seven podium finishes in their first two seasons of competition.<o:p></o:p>

TRG is a manufacturer and distributor of high-performance racing parts. The group specializes in engine and chassis tuning as well as full service professional race car preparation. The company also provides electrical and mechanical engineering services, driver development and arrive-and-drive opportunities. TRG is based in Petaluma, Calif., near its home track of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. The company’s NASCAR operation is based in Mooresville, North Carolina with a new state-of-the-art facility coming on-line at New Jersey Motorsports Park in late 2009.<o:p></o:p>

More information and a complete press kit can be found at www.theracersgroup.com, www.trgmotorsports.com, and www.theracersgroup.com/newjersey. Please contact press@theracersgroup.com or (707) 935-3999 for additional information.<o:p></o:p>

# # # <o:p></o:p>

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The Racer's Group 1995 S. McDowell Blvd. Petaluma, CA 94954<o:p></o:p>

707-935-3999 www.theracersgroup.com <o:p></o:p>

Unsubscribe from TRG Press Releases <o:p></o:p>

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Nitelord · January 24, 2009

WTG. Maybe the start of a great season... :cheers:

Adam · January 27, 2009

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8th and 14th Place Finishes in Koni Challenge and the Rolex 24 Hours Usher in a Strong 2009 Season

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<table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 100%;" id="content_LETTER.BLOCK4" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 3pt;" styleclass="style_MainText"> Hi Everybody,

It feels like a month ago that I left Los Angeles for Daytona, but I am finally back home after a very, very long week. The Rolex 24 Hours proved to be a dream weekend for TRG and Porsche, the team taking first and second in the GT class with the 67 and 66 cars and Porsche also capturing thrid place in GT, not to mention the overal victory in a Brumos Daytona Prototype in the closest finish in the history of the race! Unfortunately, our 68 car could not rise to that level in the race, but we all honestly knew we were not out there racing for the win and we are all proud of making it twice around the clock to finish 14th in GT. My codrivers, Steve Miller, Chris Pallis, Josemanuel Gutierrez, and Scott Schroeder all did a great job and together we survived a race that saw so many fall by the wayside. We lost some significant time in the garage making repairs during the night, but the crew did a stellar job and got us back out there on track. It really is due to our fantastic crew that we managed to bring home the result we did.

The weekend was even better for me in Koni Challenge. Our 8th place finish in the Fresh From Florida 200 on Friday afternoon could have been a bit higher with some different luck, but after leaving Daytona with zero points after an engine failure in 2008, I am immensely happy to start the 2009 season with a solid top 10 result. Spencer and I will be using this is as a good first building block to begin our championship assault on. I'm attaching the team's Koni Challenge post race press release for you below, so please enjoy and look forward to more updates soon!<o:p></o:p>

</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0in; width: 100%;" styleclass="style_MainText" width="100%"> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 100%;" id="content_LETTER.BLOCK5" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 3pt;"> TRG Finishes Eighth in KONI Challenge Opener at Daytona

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January 24, 2009

Daytona Beach, Florida- TRG's Duncan Ende and Spencer Pumpelly drove their Porsche to an eighth place finish today in the Fresh From Florida 200 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge season opener.

Ende started the No. 39 DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Fox River Coffee Racer's Roast/TRG Porsche 997 from his fifth place qualifying position. Ende proceeded to run in the top five, doing a double stint. When he turned the Porsche over to Pumpelly the team was running strong in seventh.

"I had a pretty good double stint," Ende said. "I was able to run up with the leaders and we were keeping a pretty good pace. Doing the double stint we didn't put tires on, so I was an hour and forty five minutes on the same set of tires, which is asking a lot. I made a couple of small mistakes, but when I gave the car to Spencer we were in solid shape."

During the yellow plagued three hour race, eight cautions for 31 laps, the restarts played havoc on the No. 39. The big V8 cars would be able to pull away on the restarts negating any advantage the TRG drivers were able to gain.

"We are really good in the infield," Pumpelly said. "Then when we get up on the bank the Mustangs just blow by us. The car was handling excellent, we just don't have the horses to challenge them. Duncan did a great job doing a double stint. He qualified well and ran up front all race. We had no issues with the car. It is just frustrating running in the top 10 and really not battling for a chance to win."

In the No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997 John Potter and Andy Lally ran into trouble early in the race. John Potter started the Porsche from the 12th row and following the first caution period lost third gear and eventually fourth. He pitted on lap 18 and turned the car over to Lally.

"During the first caution I lost third gear," Potter said. "Then I also lost fourth. I was going through the Bus Stop turn in fifth. It became tough to keep the momentum of the car up. I turned the car over to Andy to see if he could nurse it home for some points."

Lally took over and soon lost all drive to the rear wheels of the 997.

"When I got in I had first, second, fifth and sixth gear," Lally said. "It wasn't fun to drive, but it wasn't impossible either. Then around lap 37 it went to total neutral. We weren't breaking gears. I think it was in the internal linkage somewhere."

Kevin Buckler, team owner, was satisfied with the performance of the team and worried about the future.

"Duncan and Spencer had to drive the tires off the car to place in eighth," Buckler said. "We really have to kill the car to keep up with the Mustangs and BMW's. We just burn down the car and then when it is time to race at the end we have nothing left. Spencer can race with anyone, anywhere, but with our competition disadvantage we are just asking too much from him and Duncan. John and Andy did a great job this weekend. John has been getting so fast and is really a "heads up" driver. We have a championship caliper team, we just need the opportunity to make things exciting at the front."<o:p></o:p>

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<o:p></o:p>

www.duncanende.com<o:p></o:p>

Adam's Polishes<o:p></o:p>

Racer's Roast Coffee<o:p></o:p>

The DigiTrust Group<o:p></o:p>

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Adam · February 7, 2009

Great Shots from Daytona: :thumbsup:

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Duncan Ende Racing - TRG Porsche 997

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