WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (May 18, 2014)

….The first race of the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of North America’s debut kicked off Saturday afternoon in the hills of upstate New York at the iconic Watkins Glen International race track, where Aston Martin Vantage GT4 competitors took to the track for single rounds of practice and qualifying leading up to Race One of the new seven-event series.

London’s Bradley Ellis, who pilots the No. 42 Aston Martin alongside teammate Simon Arscott, took the checkered flag following the inaugural GT4 Challenge race this afternoon, after qualifying on pole this morning, which no doubt aided in his quest for the checkered flag. Ellis and Arscott have partnered with lovecars.com for the GT4 Challenge season and Arscott, a GT4 owner himself has been cheering from the sidelines all weekend.

Robert Nimkoff, one of TRG-AMR’s partners, finished second in the exciting on-track battle at the famous road circuit. Having raced with TRG-Aston Martin Racing at Daytona International Speedway in January, Nimkoff used his experience behind the wheel of an Aston Martin for a successful result in Round One of this multi-round series. Nimkoff has raced several seasons in an Aston Martin in SCCA and has been involved with TRG-AMR’s efforts from the beginning.

Eliseo Salazar, who comes to the GT4 Challenge from Santiago, Chile, finished in a solid third in his No. 07 machine, sponsored by AGUNSA (a leading Logistics and Distribution company based in Valparaiso, Chile with office around the world). Salazar, who has experience racing with TRG in 2011 and 2012, hopes to again stand on the podium following today’s race, and will continue competing in the GT4 Challenge periodically throughout the season.

Race 1 – Finishing Order Aston Martin GT4 Challenge North America

P1

#42

Bradley Ellis, London, England

P2

#15

Rob Nimkoff, Danbury, Conn.

P3

#07

Eliseo Salazar, Santiago, Chile

P4

#09

David Block, Cleveland, Ohio

P5

#02

Kenneth Greenberg, Hollywood, Fla.

P6

#88

Greg Milzcik, Littleton, Colo.

P7

#77

Dan Aweida, Boulder, Colo.

P8

#7

Max Riddle, Vancouver, BC, Canada

P9

#13

Joel Segal, Montreal, Canada (DNS)

Bradley Ellis, No. 42 Aston Martin GT4, on Saturday’s race:

“This weekend has been a big learning curve. It’s a new team and a new car for us at Ascott-Lloyd Racing. It’s gone pretty well. I think there’s only been one session all weekend that we weren’t the fastest, and that was morning warm-up. The team has done a great job getting the car set up, and the race was pretty manageable for me from flag to finish. I had Turn 2 to worry about. There was a bit of a warm-up incident there with one of the other cars, that left some water down. So Turn 2 was an issue, being the first car into it, I didn’t know how the grip level would be. I took it a bit cautiously, but from then on in the race, it seemed pretty manageable. I was pushing every lap and Rob (Nimkoff) was chasing me down really well, so I was just trying to manage that gap. He kept me honest and kept me pushing the whole race.”

Bradley Ellis on competing with Pirelli Tires:

“I worked the tires as hard as I possibly could as soon as I was leaving the pit road. It seemed okay for me, as the cars are assisted with ABS and traction control. There wasn’t an issue for me. Obviously I didn’t get the ultimate lap time on lap one, but it didn’t feel far away. The tires have been really good. I’ve never driven this car on these tires, only on a Dunlop, and the Pirelli seems to work really well.”

Up Next Round Two – Sunday May 18, 2014 – Watkins Glen, N.Y.

8:55 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. – Practice

1:00 p.m. – 1:25 p.m. – Qualifying

3:55 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Race 2