BRASELTON, GA  (September 29, 2011) – 16-year-old Atlanta native Sean Rayhall led the speed charts all week and backed it up in the race today, taking his first victory in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship in dominating fashion, winning from the pole position by a margin of over 10 seconds.

Rayhall, driving the #77 Comprent Motorsports/SCCA Élan DP02, kept the field in his mirrors through the entire 21-lap event. Behind him, the battle raged for the remaining positions, with 15-year-old Tristan Nunez, returning to the series after finishing second in his first and only event at Sebring, finishing second from his fifth place starting position. And yes, the combined ages of the top two finishers are of note – it adds up to a whopping 31.

“The key was to be good on cold tires,” said Rayhall. “The team gave me a great car to be able to do that. There was great competition behind me, with Nunez and my teammate (Jonathan Gore, #14) coming in third, so it was a good podium for us! It’s a great debut for me, with no real moments. But you give it all you’ve got and really push it no matter how big a lead you have – there’s no relaxation out there!”

Nunez had his share of moments during the week, as a shunt in practice Tuesday resulted in an engine fire in his #8 Performance Tech Élan DP02. The car that remains looks like an amalgam of every car Performance tech has – but it doesn’t have to be pretty to be good.

“I started fifth and got shuffled back two spots at the start,” said Nunez. “I made up a spot in turn six on a restart and just worked my way up from there, pushing harder than I really ever have before. I got up to second but couldn’t get to Sean, he was too fast. I had a bit of a fire on Tuesday, which spooked me a little bit, but I was back in the car the next day doing fast laps. These cars are really fast, I love these cars!”

In the Lites 1 championship battle, leader Ricardo Vera finished fourth, with second and third in the title chase, Antonio Downs and Gore, finishing sixth and third respectively on the track, so the championship will go down to the final race tomorrow.

In Lites 2, with champion Robert Sabato on the sidelines after Tuesday’s practice crash, his 6^th Gear teammates Michal Chlumecky and Max De Angelis took on Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker for the race win, with Tucker coming out on top, Chlumecky second and De Angelis third.

“I got a great restart,” said Chlumecky, as Tucker headed to his GT3 car (doing the IMSA development series double dip again this weekend). “I got stuck behind a bunch of L1s, which is my own fault. Scott ran a fantastic race and once he got away, I couldn’t reel him in. But tomorrow’s another day!”

The Prototype Lites mission is two-fold: present an opportunity for semi-professional race car drivers to compete in a world-class environment while also providing an avenue for drivers to move up the ladder into the LMPC or LMP classes in the American Le Mans Series Presented by Tequila Patrón. The series is divided into two classes: Lites 1, featuring the Élan DP02 chassis, powered by a 2.3-liter, four-cylinder Mazda MP2 engine; and Lites 2, utilizing the West WX10 and WR1000 chassis, with either a Kawasaki ZX10R or a Suzuki GSXR motor.

The second of two Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship races during the Petit Le Mans weekend at Road Atlanta will be Friday at 9:15am. Visit www.prototypelites.com for live timing and scoring and updates throughout the race weekend.

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