MONTEREY, Calif. October 15, 2004 – Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing will start fourth in GT class for tomorrow’s American Le Mans Series (ALMS) finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Craig Stanton (Long Beach, Calif.) qualified the No. 31 Westward Ho Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with a time of one minute, 26.796 seconds, his fastest lap of the weekend just two-tenths of a second from third. The Michael Petersen-owned team will be chasing its fifth-straight podium finish in the four hour Audi Sports Car Championships. In the balance of the first-ever night race here at Mazda Raceway will be three season-long championship chases for the Las Vegas-based team. Stanton and co-driver David Murry (Cumming, Ga.) are currently ranked fourth in driver points with six podium finishes, including two second-places, while the team is ranked third in team points and second in the privateer-only IMSA Cup. In the two team chases the White Lightning-prepared Porsche can mathematically move as high as second in the team championship and can win the IMSA Cup in their first full season of ALMS competition.

The race marks the ninth round of the ALMS season and the first four-hour event of the series this season. In other GT class endurance events- races four hours of longer- this season, the Petersen/ White Lightning Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished third at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and third at the most recent race, the Petit Le Mans. The race will get the green flag at 4 pm (PT) and will race into the dark. A one day delayed TV broadcast can be seen on NBC at noon (ET). Live radio coverage and timing and scoring can be found at the American Le Mans Radio Web via www.americanlemans.com.

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Craig Stanton: “I dug down deep for that one. It wasn’t quite where we wanted to be but it was a pretty good lap. Fourth will be a good place for us to start tomorrow. I think we have a really good race car with the Petersen/ White Lightning Porsche. The nighttime is going to be interesting to say the least. Depending on how we do our stints, if you get in last and it is already dark, it’s going to be real interesting. It’s kind of like playing a racing video game, putting it on pause and going to eat a sandwich and watch TV. When you come back you just sit down and start right where you left off in the middle of a lap. You’ll be throwing it around a lot trying to get control over the situation.”