Passion
Commitment
Focus
sun, wind, rain, dark, traffic.....
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AT THE INFAMOUS ROLEX 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA.
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO FOLLOW ALL THE ACTION RIGHT FROM PIT LANE, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE.
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO ASK US “WHAT’S HAPPENING?”*
TYP YOUR QUESTIONS AS YOU FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE ACTION HOUR BY HOUR WITH YOUR CO-HOSTS, LIZ MOSES AND CAR #63 STRATEGIST SEAN HECKMAN, AND OUR CAVALCADE OF SURPRISE GUESTS.
THE WEBCAST WILL START AS THE GREEN FLAG DROPS AT 3:30 PM EST AND CONTINUE UNTIL THE CHECKERED FLAG - 24 GRUELING HOURS LATER.
TO BE A PART OF THIS UNBELIEVABLE WEBCAST JUST VISIT:
http://www.theracersgroup.com/PitPass/
GET THE COFFEE BREWING AND LOAD UP ON REDBULL** AND JOIN US IN PITLANE.....
* “WHATS HAPPENING” IS A TRADEMARK OF SOMEONE ELSE’S AND IN NO WAY ENDORSES THE 63 CAR
**REDBULL IS NOT AN OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF THE 63 CAR
Team Polizei 144 Racing Confirms Assault
on the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2010
with new sponsor iRise!
December 24, 2009
Team Polizei 144 Racing Kapitän, René Villeneuve has confirmed the signing of iRise as the newest sponsor along with Grooveshark and Facecake Technologies/FrameWizard of the #63 TRG run Porsche GT3 Cup car for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, held January 30-31, 2010.
“ We were able to bring most everything together pretty quickly, so it will be great to head into this race fully prepared”, Villeneuve said. “I am so excited to have iRise on board with us. They are a fantastic sponsor and they bring great people with them and for most of their guests it’s the first time they have been to the racetrack. I enjoy meeting and talking with them and bringing them into the Team Polizei Racing family.”
Team Polizei last ran at the Grand-Am Rolex Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2009, where they enjoyed a 9th place finish in a race that could have gone bad for anyone as there were so many incidents on track , especially in the closing stages of the race.
This season the team is even more thrilled as they will competing with the latest upgrades to the #63 Porsche. Team Kapitän Villeneuve states, “Last year we were a bit off the pace right from the start as we were running an ’08 spec car, but we still held our own. Now we have the latest updates and I am looking forward to competing on a level playing field.”
Joining René and Henri in the #63 will be Ferrari Challenge notable Zak Brown, as well as Richard Dean and Mark Thomas, who each have plenty of endurance racing experience in Europe, but it is their first time to the famed 24 Hours of Daytona.
“I am really looking forward to this race,” remarked Villeneuve, “We will have a proper car, the perfect team, great co-drivers and with TRG’s experience and record at Daytona, I am certainly looking for a great finish for us at this race.”
This marks Alex Roy and Team Polizei’s first ever assualt on the famous 24 hour endurance race, which is the closest thing that professional racing offers that parallels Alex Roy’s infamous record breaking cross country run of 31hrs. 04mins.
This is what Team Polizei is all about - competing against the clock, against other competitors as well as the machinery and technology itself. Both Daytona and the 31:04 record run are a test of human endurance and Team Polizei Racing feels it is the ultimate compliment to the fortitude of Alex Roy’s achievements.
To follow all the action from the track on the web, visit www.teampolizeihq.com
Team Polizei 144 Racing Nets First Top 10 Finish at 2009 Grand-Am Rolex GT Season Finale!
For the No. 63 Team Polizei/Dietz & Watson Quality Meats/ Freescale Semi Conductors/Future Electronique/ TRG Porsche, the trio of Peter Ludwig, Henri Richard, and René Villeneuve ended with a solid ninth place finish.
Keeping pace during his opening stint, an unfortunate tire lock-up by Peter Ludwig led to a set of damaged tires, bringing him in for an early pit stop. Going a lap down in the process, Ludwig would finish his stint with extremely competitive lap times, handing over to track debutant Henri Richard.
“I just got a little too hard on the brakes and it just destroyed the tires,” stated Ludwig. “Once we stopped and got tires the stint went very well, and I’m pretty happy with the day overall.”
Having never driven the track until the race, Henri Richard was quickly up to speed. Having just flown in from another race in Barcelona, it only took Richard four laps before he was on pace with the lead lap times, proving the impressive talents of the French Canadian.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect when I jumped in the car but it all worked out. Everyone at TRG prepared a great car, my only issue was the fact I couldn’t get my cool suit to work. It was so hot in the car that not having my cool suit working was really tough, but I got through it and I’m happy we finished.”
For René Villeneuve, a solid final stint led to a top-10 result, a solid second race.
“The final stint for me was luckily pretty uneventful. The Team Polizei car was great, and we were really lucky to avoid some big accidents at the end. I set the goal of a ninth place finish headed in to the race, and that’s right where we finished!”
Kevin Buckler team Owner had this to say, “For the 63 car it was Mission Accomplished and it looked like they were having a lot of fun. Team Polizei is always a joy to have around, and I still can’t believe how quickly Henri got up to speed! Peter was super strong and he put in a great opening stint. René drove his usual smart and professional race with some stellar lap times to boot and brought the car home...”
Speed Demon Brings Social Media To The Track
Alex Roy knows a thing or two about driving fast. He set a new record for driving across the country when he made the drive in 32 31 hours and 7 4 minutes. Now he’s launching a racing team and dreaming up new ways to market motorsports.
Going racing? Glad to see he’s doing something safe for once.
Team Polizei is jumping into the game in a big way. Roy and Team Polizei are most famous - perhaps that should be infamous — for competing in coast-to-coast “rallies” like the Gumball and Cannonball events. But starting this month, Team Polizei is running in the Grand-Am racing series with long-time runners The Racers Group (TRG).
Roy and his teammates, Henri Richard and René Villeneuve, are campaigning a pavement-peeling Porsche GT3. But slugging it out with the likes of Paul Gentilozzi and Klaus Graf isn’t the only thing Team Polizei is up to. Turns out it is launching a new way of marketing motorsports through online experiences.
“The future of enthusiast sports like auto racing is to deliver a seamless, engaging and interactive experience that connects the competitor, the team and sponsors to a fan’s living room, laptop or mobile device,” Roy said. “At TRG, the future is right now because we are rewriting the rules of consumer engagement and are rolling out our new marketing model starting today.”
Team Polizei is using interactive kiosks at race tracks as tool for fans to track and map their favorite driver during the race. It also is working with other tech firms to use social networking to drive fan experiences. For example, Team Polizei and TRG are working with the unfortunately named FaceCake Marketing Technologies to allow fans to “build” a Team Polizei jacket online. They call it the Jacket Konfigurator, which sounds more than little cute, but sure beats buying an off the rack Little E jacket just like 20 million other people have.
They’re also joining music industry startup Grooveshark (what is with these names?) on a website widget that provides Villeneuve’s playlist. (Hey René - we’ve got some song suggestions for you.) Team Polizei also is working with EveryTrail, a user-generated travel website that Roy and his crew use a lot. The site lets users map a route anywhere in the world — say, around a track — and use GPS data to upload photos and other info to give a perspective on what they are experiencing and seeing at any point of their route.
We’d like to see Jenson Button use it at, say, Spa, but that’s another story. Just as long as Roy puts us more in the cockpit, we’re all for it.
Read about Alex Roy’s record-setting dash across the country in “The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory.”
Photo: Flickr / VOD Cars
Team Polizei 144 Finishes 12th in
Rolex GT Debut at Laguna Seca!
POLIZEI 144 AND TRG ENJOY STRONG DEBUT
Monterey, Calif., (May 17, 2009) – In the debut performance between Team Polizei 144 and their new alliance with TRG in the Rolex Grand-American GT Series, drivers Henri Richard and René Villeneuve enjoyed a strong and consistent debut to finish 12th.
“TRG gave us great support this weekend, we had a fantastic crew,” Richard said. “I have to thank René. He did a fabulous first stint and ran an hour-and-thirty-five minutes, which is no small task. He gave me a good car and I played it safe. Our objective was absolutely first and foremost to take the checker. I judged that some of the guys behind me were faster and I let them go. I listened to my spotter on the DP traffic and kept it together to the end. It was a good first outing for our group.”
René Villeneuve started the No. 63 Team Polizei 144/TRG Porsche GT3 and Villeneuve put in a double stint behind the wheel, he soon had the Team Polizei 144/TRG car in the top ten. Villeneuve handed over to Henri Richard who drove some of the best laps of the weekend and was able to bring the car home unscathed in the the group’s first outing.
“It was a very long and hot stint, but I was happy to run clean, consistent laps. I thought it was all going to end early when there was contact with a DP car I was trying to let through in turn 10 but the only issue seemed to be a slightly skewed steering wheel. Otherwise the car was fantastic throughout the double stint and I really thank all of the guys at TRG for such a strong outing,” Villeneuve said.
For Team Polizei 144’s Alex Roy, to have such a strong debut in his brand’s debut is a dream come true. “I don’t have any kids so I can easily say this is one of the best day’s of my life. To see that car out there turning laps with Henri and René behind the wheel was just awesome. I think our presence on the web and in our Fan Zone was a big hit, and we look forward to moving this whole program forward.”
“Our new guys René and Henri had a great first outing with us,” stated TRG Team Owner Kevin Buckler. “They both did just a stellar job in the cockpit. We introduced the Team Polizei 144 brand to the Grand-Am audience, and I think they turned some heads.”
Team Polizei and its founder – Alex Roy – best known for a history of rally victories culminating in their shattering of the longstanding Cannonball Run Record – have cult followings in the underground motorsports and tuning worlds. Team Polizei has evolved into a branding/marketing/technology consultancy with a unique understanding of viral marketing and expert utilization of social networking platforms, enhanced by successful book and merchandising lines. Using these tools, Team Polizei is taking a new and fresh approach in marketing to mainstream motorsports media. Now, for the first time, Team Polizei is offering its partners access to this alternative platform. Additional information can be found at www.teampolizeihq.com and apparel can be ordered at www.polizei144.com.
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 26, 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 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 and a new state-of-the-art facility is coming on-line at New Jersey Motorsports Park in late 2009.
For more information please contact Kyle Chura at (248) 821-0468 or chura@aol.com. Detailed team info can be viewed at www.trgmotorsports.com or www.theracersgroup.com.
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