Braselton, Georgia (April 16, 1999) — The World Speed Star Formula Mazda pair of stars – Jeff Bucknum and Grant Ryley – captured spots on the first and second starting rows by qualifying second and fourth, respectively, for tomorrow’s second round of the Star Formula Mazda Pro Series Speedvision Challenge, part of the American Le Mans Series’ Grand Prix of Road Atlanta presented by Lease Plan USA.
“We were fastest until qualifying,” said Bucknum, who drives the #14 World Speed Motorsports/Red Line Oil Mazda. “We thought we had some breathing room and picked a pretty conservative set-up for qualifying. We went quicker than we’ve gone all weekend, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. On the upside, we were running a race set-up that will last for a full race distance, so we’ll be in great shape for tomorrow. We’ll just keep focusing on the race, and we feel pretty confident we’ll be able to stay up front.”
Ryley, also in his first appearance at Road Atlanta, claimed his best Star Formula Mazda qualifying position thus far. “We found a ton of speed since this morning. Mike Miller (who contested the Star series with World Speed the past two seasons) has been helping us on the engineering side and suggested some changes to the car. It definitely helped. The car was terrific. The track is also awesome. I think we’ll have a good car for the race tomorrow and, hopefully, Jeff and I can bring home a strong World Speed finish.”
World Speed Motorsports’ dominance of the Formula Mazda series includes six championship and five pro series Rookie-of-the-Year titles since 1991. Most recently, the team captured five wins (Mike Miller – 4, Bucknum – 1) and two poles (Bucknum) en route to second (Miller) and third (Bucknum) in the 1998 Star Formula Mazda Pro Series championship.
World Speed Motorsports is pulling double duty this weekend with the team’s professional Kool/Toyota Atlantic program making its 1999 season debut at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach with series standout Nicolas Rondet behind the wheel.