Leitzinger, Forbes-Robinson Win Grand-Am Race.(Butch Leitzinger)(Elliott Forbes-Robinson)(Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series race)

Butch Leitzinger and Elliott Forbes-Robinson won the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series race at Barber Motorsports Park, becoming the sixth different set of co-drivers to earn an overall victory in 2004. After taking over the controls from Forbes-Robin-son-who led 27 laps-Leitzinger took the lead from Scott Pruett on a lap-59 restart of the 87-lap race. Leitzinger withstood heavy pressure from Max Angelelli and Christian Fittipaldi as the laps ticked away, but the win was his when Fittipaldi spun and made hard contact with the Turn 10 barrier with four laps to go. Fittipaldi was not injured, and the race finished under caution. It was Leitzinger's 10th career overall win in Grand-Am. Angelelli and co-driver Wayne Taylor finished second, with Pruett and Max Papis in third.

GT points leader Bill Auberlen and co-driver Justin Marks took the class win. Marc Bunting and Andy Lally won in the Super Grand Sport class.

New F1 team?

File this under "We'll believe it when we see it'': Midland Group, a privately owned trading and investment company in Toronto with offices in Britain and Switzerland, is teaming with Dallara Automobili to design a new Formula One race car at Dallara's factory near Varano, Italy. The new team, which will be called Midland F1, is scheduled to enter Formula One at the start of the 2006 season.

Founded in 1994, Midland is active in commodities trading, steel manufacturing, transportation, construction and agriculture in the Common- wealth of Independent States and other countries in Eastern Europe and Asia. Because so much of its business is conducted in Russia and with the CIS, the firm says the new team will have a Russian flavor.

The team's co-founder and chairman, Alexander Shnaider, 36, is from St. Petersburg, Russia, moved to the west in his infancy and is now a naturalized Canadian citizen.

"For a global-acting business conglomerate, the search for a global communication platform is natural,'' Shnaider said. "Our research into coverage of different sports showed that only three events met our criteria for international exploitation: the Olympic Games, World Cup Soccer and Formula One. Formula One was the natural fit. Midland's involvement is market-driven, and so is our determination to build a team from scratch, as opposed to buying an existing one.