TEAM TIMKEN PRESS RELEASE

American motor racing star Dion von Moltke will compete in the WesBank SuperSeries season finale at Kyalami on 16 October at the wheel of a Team Timken Jaguar XKR V8.

Nineteen year-old Von Moltke, who races under the SA flag because of his heritage, is permanently based in the US where he competes regularly in the popular Rolex GT and Grand-Am Daytona Prototype (DP) sports car series. He will be making his racing debut in his homeland on Saturday.

He will partner Team Timken regulars Richard Pinard, Carel Pienaar and multiple SA champion, Hennie Groenewald, who is vying for his fourth consecutive WesBank V8 Series championship. He currently lies second on the 2009 log.

Von Moltke is a seasoned competitor and multiple champion in junior leagues. This year [2009] he competed in the Daytona Rolex 24 Hour – American’s most prestigious sports car race (famously won in 1984 by the SA-trio of Graham Duxbury, Sarel van der Merwe and Tony Martin). He also won three of the six major production car races he entered during the season.

In addition, he has also stepped onto the highest level of Grand-Am racing, testing the Doran Racing Dallara at Mid-Ohio race track with spectacular results - and then racing, together with Groenewald, at Daytona in July. At Kyalami Von Moltke completes a 3^rd weekend in a row of racing as he raced in Virginia in the Koni series then raced in Grand-Am in a BMW powered Riley for the Orbit racing team at Miami and now the V8 supercar for Team Timken.

"I am thrilled at the opportunity to race in my home country for the first time,” he says. “In Grand-Am I formed a really close relationship with super-fast Hennie and his manager Carel Pienaar. Now we switch roles - they will be helping me with the car and a radically different racing environment.”

Von Moltke says the Kyalami track has always been on his list of favourite circuits on which to race.

“Being back on South African soil and racing at a legendary venue in front of my family will be very special for me. South African Airways has backed me at all of my Rolex races in 2009 and will be there to support me at Kyalami. I hope to be running up front for Team Timken, giving South African fans a couple of exciting races to watch."

Groenewald is delighted to be reunited with his states-side team mate and is confident Von Moltke will not only enjoy local WesBank V8 racing but also be and immediate frontrunner.

“The races are a lot shorter than those in the US, but the battles are hard-fought and the racing is close and competitive. Of course, the two races at the upcoming Kyalami meeting, being the last of the season and championship deciders to boot, are bound to create added interest,” he says.

Von Moltke and Groenewald will be joined by Richard Pinard and Carel Pienaar making up a four-car squad, the strongest line-up yet from West Rand-based Team Timken.