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| COMPONENTS |
| 23/05/2002 |
| Elan succeeding where others have fallen |
| Yet another successful Panoz project |
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Don Panoz's Elan Motorsport Technologies group has continued to enjoy a remarkable period of success throughout the world during the month of May.
The largest manufacturer of racing cars in the world, the Elan group includes IRL chassis manufacturer G Force, Formula Ford expert Van Diemen, leading American Le Mans Series team Panoz Motor Sports and specialist services companies Elan Power Products, Elan Precision and Elan Composites.
The month of success began with Indy 500 qualifying which had four G Force cars in the top five qualifying speeds.
That success continued last weekend with Panoz Motor Sports winning the second round of the American Le Mans Series at California's Sears Point Raceway and Boris Said taking the first victory for a Panoz Esperante bodied car at the Mosport round of the Trans-Am Series.
This success is in addition to the continued dominating performances in Formula Ford by Van Diemen including young Brit, Westley Barber, winning every round of the British Championship held this year. The marque has also won every round of the US FF2000 Pro Series in 2002.
"The past couple of weeks have certainly been very successful for the Elan Group and we are certainly hopeful we can continue this success next Sunday in the Indy 500," Founder, Don Panoz said.
"It is very rewarding for our staff who have worked countless hours to building the foundation for this success. To see our teams succeed is very satisfying for our employees."
The G Force teams will have their final hit-out on Thursday in "Carb Day" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for Sunday’s 500 mile classic.
Ten G Force chassis have qualified for the race – including four cars amongst the fastest five qualifiers.
The G Force equipped drivers and teams include pole sitter Bruno Junqueira (Chip Ganassi Racing); Robbie Buhl (Dreyer & Reinbold) 2nd; Felipe Giaffone (Mo Nunn Racing) 4th; Tony Kanaan (Mo Nunn Racing) 5th; Sarah Fisher (Dreyer & Reinbold) 9th; Jeff Ward (Chip Ganassi Racing) 15th; Ricky Treadway (Treadway & Associates) 17th; Kenny Brack (Chip Ganassi Racing) 21st; Arie Luyendyk (Treadway & Associates), 24th; and George Mack (310 Racing) 32nd.
In one of the most fiercely contested qualifying programs for many years, ten out of the eleven entered G Force cars qualified for the race - 91 per cent - the best manufacturer percentage for 2002.
Located in state-of-the-art premises in Braselton, Georgia, Elan Motorsport Technologies' design, manufacture and research facilities are utilised not only for motorsport projects – but regular road-going automotive assignments and other projects requiring composite construction and precision design.
"We have some very exciting projects on the horizon for EMT, and our success to date during May will be a catalyst for future growth," Panoz said.
"Traditionally, many of these projects would have been sent overseas to be completed, but we are very proud to offer these services right here in the United States."
G Force has twice previously won the Indianapolis 500 - taking victory in 1997 (Arie Luyendyk) and 2000 (Juan Montoya).
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