Loveland, CO – JDX Racing headed to Long Beach, California knowing it was going to take everything they had to make their weekend successful. With a new commercial sponsor in Petropavlovsk, PLC onboard for the weekend, the entire team was ready to race; however, it would prove to be a challenging weekend, both on and off-track for the rookie squad from Colorado.

The race weekend started with an early, two-hour practice session on Friday morning, which unfortunately was cut short with a trip into the tire barrier at Turn 1. The JDX crew, led by Larry Ellert, dove straight in and after a full day of work, they managed to get the car back on track for a 5:00pm qualifying session. That was the first test, but the two-hour sprint race on Saturday provided more surprises than they bargained for.

Driver Scott Blackett took the green flag at the start and ran a solid pace early on until his front splitter was torn off over the curbing at Turn Five. There was no other damage to the car, but the loss of the front splitter greatly affected the handling of the car especially down the long front straight – which is not actually straight, it has a bend in the middle of it, compromising a corner that is taken at 150 MPH – before getting to the actual Turn 1. Blackett managed to complete several more laps while the JDX Racing crew prepared another splitter in the pits. Blackett pitted for tires, fuel and a driver change on lap 25. With Nick Ham assuming driving duties and the front splitter replaced, the team was ready to get back to the fight, although the change was quick, the short lap times around the 1.9 mile Long Beach track meant the Porsche went a lap down to the other GTC competitors.

After getting out of the car, Blackett exclaimed, “Wow! You’re really busy on this street course! With all the pavement surface changes (asphalt & concrete), crowns in the road, and camber changes to contend with, combined with managing the traffic, you never get a break. Driving the #11 Porsche with no front splitter was a handful down the long front straight and into Turn 1, but after a couple laps I knew how the car was going to react, so I adjusted my driving style to compensate for the lack of front grip.”

Shortly after taking over driving duties, Nick Ham suffered a puncture in the left rear tire just past the pit lane exit. Ham had to gingerly limp the Porsche around the track for essentially one full lap, being careful not to further damage the car or get caught up with any of the other 30 cars on track. After a quick stop for tires, Ham got the #11 Porsche right back into the GTC race, running a solid fifth place, but four laps down due to the slow progress around the circuit on the shredded tire. All was not lost though, as the fight up the road for third and fourth position in GTC was very intense. That battle created the luck that Ham needed and later capitalized on. In the closing minutes of the race, the fourth place Porsche went into Turn 8 too fast, locked the brakes and hit one of those unforgiving Long Beach walls. Ham drove past, moving the JDX Porsche to a hard earned fourth place finish.

At the conclusion of the race, Nick Ham commented, “What an incredible setting. I’ve heard people refer to Long Beach as the US version of Monaco, and I would definitely agree. This was one of those races where almost every law Mr. Murphy wrote came true. The loss of the front splitter, the poor handling without the splitter, the bizarre flat tire, going four laps down. This team is amazing. They never gave up and fought hard until the end. That tenacity really paid off for us today.”

JDX President, Jeremy Dale, said, “We were excited to get a good result for our new commercial partner, Petropavlovsk PLC. The eye-catching gold livery on the car really turned heads and we had people coming by the paddock all weekend to check out “the gold car.””

Dale continued, “It was a weekend that saw plenty of adversity, but I knew the team wasn’t going to give up. We’re in the race to win and we won’t quit or throw in the towel until the checkered flag falls. The drivers adapted to a car that was tough to drive, the crew was fantastic in keeping our pit stops as short as possible and for all our work and effort we were rewarded with a strong fourth place finish.”

About JDX Racing: Founded in 2008 and based outside of Denver, CO, JDX Racing represents the very best in professional motorsports. As part of the American Le Mans Series, JDX Racing competes in 9 events throughout North America. JDX Racing 2011 is a one-car team featuring world-class drivers, outstanding crewmembers and progressive marketers from Champ Car, IndyCar, NASCAR, Trans-Am and the ChampCar Atlantic Championship series. For more information, please visit - www.jdxracing.com

About Petropavlovsk PLC: One of the largest gold producers in Russia, Petropavlovsk has operated there since 1994, demonstrating its ability to develop assets from ‘greenfield sites’ through to successful world-class producing mines. The Group’s third gold mine, Malomir, was commissioned in August 2010. This key strength has driven year-on-year production growth and the Group’s rapid expansion. Petropavlovsk PLC is listed on the Main Market on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $US 3 Billion and also traded via an American Depository Receipt, managed by the Bank of New York. For more information, please visit - http://www.petropavlovsk.net