BulletRacing

DAYTONA, FL—February 1, 2010— Bullet Racing of Vancouver, B.C. finished 20th overall and 13th in the GT class at the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Maple Leaf-adorned No. 22 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by the all-volunteer team of Ross Bentley, Kees Nierop, Darryl O’Young and Sean McIntosh took the checkered flag with Nierop behind the wheel.

“Taking the checkered flag is worth a 1,000 thank you’s,” said Nierop. “This race meant a lot to me; I was driving for former Manager of Motorsports Press of Porsche Cars North America Bob Carlson and my father. They were in the car with me and to be able to finish for them, to drive for the All-Canadian team and to drive for the B.C. Children’s Hospital, it was a very fulfilling finish.”

The No. 22 Bullet Racing Porsche faced many obstacles reaching the finish. Although the team was doing well at the beginning of the endurance race, running fifth in GT, the car suffered front-end damage and radiator issues, which took the car off the track for 90 minutes. After the first 90 minute repair session, the car suffered radiator issues again, taking the car off-track for another 60 minutes.

“The incidents were unfortunate since we were running well,” said Darryl O’Young. “Still, it was a great accomplishment for everyone in the team to finish 20th overall. The car ran flawlessly.”

All of the drivers credited the team and pit-crew for the car’s excellent set-up and finish. The team worked to repair all of the damage to the car during its incidents and credit their motivation to the B.C. Children’s Hospital, for which the team was able to raise over $150,000 for.

“It was an amazing achievement to finish the race,” said Sean McIntosh. “I didn’t understand how difficult it would be to run for 24 hours and now I see why it’s such a big deal. It wasn’t easy maintaining focus, but we were here to raise money for the kids and that kept me going.”

Veteran driver Ross Bentley echoed the team’s sentiment, crediting the Bullet Racing team and the children of the B.C. Children’s Hospital as his motivation to keep pushing.

“The car ran well; this is a car you can’t break,” said Bentley. “We held up to the end and what we’ve done for the hospital is rewarding. To know we’ve raised money to save the lives of the children of B.C. makes the finish a little more special.”

Bentley continued, “Our entire team made a valiant effort. The co-drivers were everything I’d want from co-drivers, the pit-crew kept us going and team owner Steve Paquette made sure we had a great car to race with. Driving the No. 22 Bullet Racing Porsche was both an honor and a blast.”

As for Paquette’s feelings toward the race, it was a mix of emotions. “I’m very happy to have finished and raised as much money as we did for the hospital. I’d hoped we’d finish in a better position, but all of the drivers did a great job and so did the rest of the team.”