Colchester, VT – February 3, 2004 – Ramana Lagemann, regarded as one of the fastest American rally drivers in recent years has made a return to Vermont SportsCar, the team he started his rally career with. Ramana, a factory Subaru Rally Team USA driver in 2002 and 2003 will contest the 2004 SCCA ProRally Championship with the help of personal sponsorship from Subaru of America. Vermont SportsCar will run Ramana in the Group N SCCA ProRally Championship in a Subaru WRX STi.
Ramana first joined Vermont SportsCar in 2000 when he first began rallying. He campaigned the 2001 Group N Championship in a Vermont SportsCar prepared Subaru WRX STi where he finished 2nd in the class and was the top privateer.”I would really like to thank Vermont SportsCar and Subaru for all their efforts to get us to the event,” said Ramana. “The deal came together at the last minute, and they did a fantastic job of getting me in a competitive car.”
Ramana began his 2004 season at the Sno*Drift ProRally where he took the first few stages slowly to get accustomed to the Vermont SportsCar prepared Group N WRX STi, which he had no time to test prior to the event. In addition Ramana needed to adjust to a new co-driver, the accomplished Michael Fennel of Jamaica who won the SCCA ProRally Co-Driver’s Championship in 1998 with David Summerbell at the wheel.
Ramana’s rally ended early however when bad luck struck. “The roads were great and we were just cruising through the first day,” explains Ramana. “Unfortunately, just after the start of SS5, something in the steering rack broke and we had no control over the car. We stopped at the side of the road and our rally was over. It was a complete fluke.”
Ramana is already looking forward to the next round in Oregon where Vermont SportsCar will debut a new 2004 Subaru WRX STi Group N rally car for him. Vermont SportsCar is proudly supported by PIAA lights, Motul lubricants, Mitsubishi Fuso trucks and Michelin rally tires.