Lexington, Ohio – September 16, 2011 – The A.M. Performance squad had an impressive qualifying session today as they secured their starting spots for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, final round of the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship.  Bryan Keitkotter and Mike Sweeney were behind the wheel of the team’s #05 and #04 machines and qualified in the 12^th and 14^th positions respectively.

For Keitkotter, the Nissan GT Academy champion, the transition from virtual racer to real racer could not be any more impressive after the 30 year old qualified his #05 Nissan NISMO 370Z for his first ever GRAND-Am event in the 12^th position with a lap time of 1m31.828s only .625s behind the leaders.  The self proclaimed professional gamer will start the race tomorrow and will then hand over the controls to his pro teammate Ryan Dalziel as they look to climb their way through the field towards the front.

The #04 Nissan NISMO 370Z had its best qualifying performance of the season at the hands of Sweeney who turned a lap of 1m31.991s during the session.  The car will start from the back of the field however after the team decided to make a preventive engine change before the 2h30min race.  Sweeney will be in charge of fighting his way through traffic throughout the first half of the race and will then turn the car over to Thomas Merrill who will be making his second start with the Scotts Valley, CA based team.

Scotts Valley, California – September 4, 2011 – A.M. Performance is proud to announce that it has partnered with Nissan and their global motorsports program GT Academy to bring virtual racing to reality by giving one lucky person the opportunity of a lifetime to become a professional race car driver.  Over 53,000 PlayStation Gran Turismo 5 players participated in the first round of the GT Academy competition and after an intense National Final the top 16 players in the country moved on to England where they participated in the final stage of the competition.  At the end of the grueling week-long race camp at Silverstone, where the 16 competitors raced in real Nissan race cars, Bryan Heitkotter from Fresno, CA was crowned champion.  This intense competition was also filmed as a reality TV show that will air in five hour-long episodes on Speed beginning on Tuesday, September 20 at 10:00 EDT.

As part of the transition from virtual racer to real racer, Heitkotter will get the chance to drive A.M. Performance’s #05 Nissan NISMO 370Z at the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the season finale of the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge which will take place September 17th at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course.

Heitkotter will make his GRAND-AM debut alongside the highly experienced Ryan Dalziel who will be his co-driver in the #05 GT Academy/A.M Performance machine.  The team recently had a chance to test their Nissan machines in Buttonwillow where both Heitkotter and Dalziel drove the race-prepared 370Z for the first time in preparation for the Mid Ohio event.  Joining them in that test were the driving duo of the #04 Nissan NISMO 370Z which includes Mike Sweeney who has been with the rookie team since it’s inception, and Thomas Merrill who will make his second start in the Nissan machine.

Scotts Valley, California – July 12th, 2011 – It was a complicated and yet successful two-car debut for A.M. Performance at their home race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  Although the team had a difficult race during the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda, with the #05 and #04 Nismo 370Zs finishing 19th and 26th respectively, the race weekend was deemed a success and was highlighted by being the team’s first two-car endeavor in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Championship.

The Scotts Valley, CA based team, which is quickly becoming a fan favorite, runs the only two Nissan entries in the CTSCC field.  After taking a three race hiatus to finish building their second racecar, the A.M. squad returned to the track stronger than ever and although still struggling to keep up with the more powerful V8s in the field, they managed to close the gap more than ever to their competitor’s cars that have had years of development.

Lawrence Loshak took the green flag with the #05 Nismo 370Z in the 20th position and immediately starting picking up positions during his stint.  For the race the A.M. crew decided to take advantage of the high fuel efficiency and low wear on the tires and gambled on a one-stop strategy.  Halfway through the race the strategy was paying off as Loshak found himself running in the fourth position, unfortunately a couple of drive through penalties forced the #05 to loose valuable time.  Ken Dobson took over on Lap 41 and continued with the quick pace but never had enough time to make up the lost ground from the penalties.  Dobson went on to take the checkered flag for the car’s first ever race, crossing the finish line in the 19th position in class.

Taking the green flag for the third time this year in the #04 Nismo 370Z was Mike Sweeney who started from the 22nd position on the grid.  Sweeney, who alongside with co-driver Thomas Merrill is an instructor at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, had an action packed start to the race but managed to survive the carnage and started working his way up the field during the first laps of the race.  Following the same strategy as the sister car, Sweeney ran as high as sixth until Lap 41 when he handed the controls over to Merrill.  What looked to be a promising day for the white and red car ended up in disappointment, as Merrill had to retire from the race with a mechanical failure ending the day early for the #04 car.

Monterey, California – July 8th, 2011 – The A.M. Performance team had a strong showing in qualifying today for the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda in the team’s first ever two-car outing.  The team’s #05 and #04 Nismo 370Z GS racecars will start from the 20th and 22nd positions respectively for the eight round of the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Championship season.

Lawrence Loshak got behind the  wheel of the #05  car for qualifying  and secured the 20th starting spot    for the race with a lap time of  1m37.767s in only his  second race  weekend with the team.  He will take  the  green flag for Saturday’s race  and then will hand  over the car to  teammate Ken Dobson who will be  making his debut with the A.M.  Performance squad.

Qualifying the #04 was the responsibility of Mike Sweeney who has been a part of the California based team since its inception.  Sweeney lapped the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course with a time of 1m38.183s which was good enough to place his Nissan in the 22nd position for the team’s home race.  Thomas Merrill will share driving duties with Sweeney’s during the 2h30min race and the pair will look to improve on the team’s previous best finish of 16th.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda will take place this Saturday July at 1:45 PM Eastern Time.  The race will be broadcast on SPEED on July 17th at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.  You can follow all the action through live timing and commentary at www.grand-am.com.