Daytona Beach, FL (February 1st 2010) - After a grueling 24 hours of racing, co-drivers James Gué, Leh Keen, Dave Lacey and Don Kitch Jr. came away from the 48th Rolex 24 At Daytona with a 14th place finish in the No. 41 Global Diving & Salvage Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Mazda RX-8 GT.

After posting the quickest GT time at the 3 day Daytona test at the beginning of the month, the #41 Team Seattle/JG Sport crew returned to Daytona with high hopes for the race. In qualifying Leh Keen posted the 9th quickest time, and in race wasted no time moving the #41 car in to the top 5. Once the race settled down and the track began to dry, the four Team Seattle drivers kept the car in the top 10 for the first 10 hours of the race.  It was around midnight when the team faced thier first and only major problem; a piece of debris went through the radiator which forced the car to the garage for a lenghty 1 1/2 hour fix which was immediately followed by a broken alternator which left Gué stranded on track. Once those two problems were resolved the car ran smoothly to the end. The time lost replacing the radiator was too much to over come and the team ended up 14th in GT and 22nd overall. 

 “I’m very pleased with how the whole weekend went,” Gue said. “Obviously, we’d ultimately would have liked a better result, but the speed was here with all of the drivers, the car was good, we were just unlucky with the radiator coming apartor something getting in it. Unfortunately, it just took a long time to fix. Apart from that, the car ran absolutely flawlessly. The whole 41 crew should be really proud of the effort they put in not just for the race but for the whole month of January. We were also able to meet our goal of raising $400,000 for the Seattle Children's Hospital. I really need to thank the whole 41 crew for all the hard work they put in, as well as all the Team Seattle supports that made the trip out to cheer the 41 car on, and also John and Jeri Graham for all of thier help and support.”

It was another successful outing for Team Seattle, which completed its 13th Rolex 24 At Daytona overall and its first as part of Dempsey Racing. The team’s mission is to raise funds for Seattle Children’s Hospital through lap donations, and the No. 41 foursome produced an eye-popping total in excess of $400,000. “I think it went great,” said John Graham, owner of Global Diving & Salvage, which is a major supporter of the No. 41 team. “We’ve got a great team with Dempsey Racing. That’s worked out really well. We’ve obviously got a great technical crew. We’ve got a great set of drivers and a wonderful car with the Mazda. More importantly, we’re going to raise $400,000 for Children’s Hospital in Seattle. The most important key there is the Children’s Hospital is part of the Circle of Care, which is an international organization of hospitals, so that technology we’re helping develop is spread throughout the world. It’s not just a regional thing. Some people don’t know about the hospital and the Circle of Care, but I think it’s very important they do know. What we’re doing is not just for Seattle. It’s for all over.” The Children’s Circle of Care was founded in 1995 and benefits 25 children’s hospitals throughout North America.