Late-Race Contact Drops AIM To Eleventh
Team Looking at Top Five Through Much of the Race

2007.09.16: AIM Autosport turned in a flawless top-five performance through almost seven hours of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series finale on Saturday, but contact from another competitor turned it into an 11th-place finish just two minutes from the finish. It was a disappointing end to a strong season for the rookie team backed by Exchange Traded Gold, Barrick Gold Corporation, RBC Financial Group and Telus' Mike Network.

Brian Frisselle and Burt Frisselle of Lynchburg, Va., and Mark Wilkins of Toronto alternated driving the No. 61 Lexus-powered Riley Mk XI, keeping it at or near the front of the field through the six-hour 51-minute race on the 4.486-mile Miller Motorsports Park road course in Tooele, Utah. With superior fuel strategy, the gold-backed Daytona Prototype car led three times. Burt Frisselle was running sixth when he was hit by another car about 45 minutes before the finish. The contact ultimately broke the car's driveshaft and he dropped back through the field in the last two minutes to finish 11th.

Andrew Bordin (AIM co-owner): "I'm really proud of everybody. Our drivers really evolved this year; they're becoming world-class drivers. We all worked hard, we've learned as a team and our team has done really well. We showed well today. If we didn't have any bad luck – which is a huge part of the equation in racing – we would have done well. There's all of next year and the year after that and the year after that and the year after that, so it will come around for us."

Brian Frisselle: "It's the end of the year now and it's a little bit disappointing way to end it. We showed a lot of potential all year and during this race. It's a great group of guys; I love working with them. I've got to thank Exchange Traded Gold, Performance Drink, CDOC, Lexus, all our supporters for making this all possible. It was a fun year, it was a learning year for the team and for all of us. It's not the way we wanted to end it, but it's not always perfect. We'll come back next year and hopefully win some races."

Burt Frisselle: "The last hour was absolutely chaos out there, but all in all, it was a good day and I'm happy with the team's performance. A lap and a half from the end, we broke a half-shaft after some contact with the 23 car, but I was proud to be part of the team this year. I think today we showed our performance and next year, the sky's the limit for AIM."

Mark Wilkins: "The guys worked so hard and I was really, really hoping for a top-five this weekend. For the majority of the race, that's the way it was going. We had a really good setup, a really good car, all three of us drove the wheels off it. It's a shame that the car didn't make the end. It's definitely a tough one to end the year."

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