Thursday, July 12, 2007 - Kris Szekeres joins Patrick Carpentier for his third consecutive start with SAMAX Motorsport as the South Florida team competes on Friday, July 13th, in Round 9 of the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the inaugural race at the newly built 9-turn Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The 1.3-mile (2.092-Km) roval track (part road course, part oval) is located in central Iowa, near the town of Newton - the circuit designed by NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace.

SAMAX is looking to regain its form after two early retirements in the last three events. In the previous race at Daytona, Kris Szekeres qualified the #11 SAMAX Pontiac Riley in sixth place. The Hartland, Michigan racer led his first eight laps before spinning in the twisty section of the Daytona Speedway road course. He kept the car running and returned to the track before the car retired later in the pits.

"Qualifying will be very important at Iowa Speedway because the track is short and narrow, and there are not too many places to pass, especially with the series of quick succession turns," said Szekeres. "With all the action taking place the same day, we need to have a good car set up when we hit the track. I was pleased with the SAMAX Pontiac Riley the last time around at Daytona, and if all goes well, we should be good to qualify near the front."

Carpentier, who announced Tuesday that he would be pulling double duty in his hometown race in Montreal by competing in Round 11 of the Rolex Series on Friday August 3rd and making his debut in the Busch Series event the next day, was looking forward to the inaugural race at Iowa Speedway.

"Like all the drivers, I'm eager to run some laps on this tight course," said Patrick Carpentier who lives in Las Vegas. "On such a short track, I expect a high rate of full course cautions unlike the past races that were virtually caution free. This is a track where power won't decide who wins, it will be the drivers who can handle the traffic and stay on course. I noticed that the oval part of the track is very tight. It should be an interesting day, and, with a good car, we should be up front."

With four top five finishes, including a runner-up podium result in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, South Florida-based SAMAX Motorsport is currently eighth overall in the Team Standings after eight races with 177 points, 15 markers from fifth place.

The one-day only official schedule for the Daytona Prototypes begins with three practice sessions on Friday July 13th, followed by a 15-minute qualifying session beginning at 5:00 p.m. Central Time. The 400-kilometer, 192 scheduled laps DP event will start at 8:00 p.m. Central time (9:00 p.m. Eastern). It will be the second consecutive race to be run under the lights. For this event, the Daytona Prototypes will compete in a separate race from the GT cars, which are scheduled to run on Saturday.

SPEED same day television coverage of the Rolex Daytona Prototype race is being broadcast in its entirety at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, one hour after the race begins. Fans can tune in to live Timing & Scoring from Iowa Speedway at www.grand-am.com.

With the race scheduled to finish close to midnight, a SAMAX release will be sent on Saturday. SAMAX Motorsport, based in Pompano Beach, Florida, is in its third year of competition in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. More information on SAMAX Motorsport is available at www.samaxmotorsport.com. Learn more about Grand-Am at www.grand-am.com.