Wyatt Gooden Wins Round Six of Jetta TDI Cup

JOLIET, Ill. (August 1, 2010) €“ Series rookie, Wyatt Gooden, earned his second consecutive Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup victory today at Autobahn Country Club as he took the checkered flag in Round Six of ten races. Two more rookies rounded out the top-three as Jarvis Gennari earned his second top-five appearance of the season bringing his Jetta TDI Cup car home in second and Kevin Gleason, today€™s polesitter, was just behind him in third place. €œI love the track here at Autobahn Country Club,€ said Gooden. €œThe circuit is very challenging and there are a lot of great corners. I don€™t really know what to say about the event, other than that it was a perfect weekend. I qualified third yesterday, so it was exciting to notch the win after having to make a few passes. Today was also a great race from the points perspective; I was able to earn some solid points and the guys ahead of me in the Championship finished further down the field, which helps me a lot. After winning two in a row, I can€™t wait to get to Road America in a few weeks.€ Series veteran, Jake Thompson earned his fourth top-five result this morning as he finished fourth and AJ Nealey finished fifth. With just four races left in the 2010 season, the points race remains tight with just 29 points separating the top-five drivers. After today€™s win, Wyatt Gooden takes the lead in the Championship with 190 points. Arie Ouimet (R) retains his position of second place with 182 points, while Juan Pablo Sierra Lendle moves from first to third place after a twelfth place result today and ends up with 176 points. Jake Thompson moved into fourth place with 170 points and JD Mobley rounds out the top-five with 161. The Series goes to Wisconsin next as they will compete in Rounds Seven and Eight of the 2010 Jetta TDI Cup at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. on August 21st and 22nd. Jetta TDI Cup News & Notes: Rookies Rule The podium for Round Six of the 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup season was filled with three rookies, something that highlights the Series€™ goal of developing young up-and-coming talent. In addition, with today€™s finishing order, the Championship points battle is shaping up to be quite interesting heading into the final four events. €œIt€™s great to have a rookie on the podium and it€™s even better to have three,€ said Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Chief Instructor, Jan Heylen. €œMost of the drivers in this Series come to us with relatively limited experience and for our rookies to perform the way they have been all season is very encouraging. We saw a lot of close racing today, maybe sometimes a little too close, but all in all we had a great show out there for the fans. Also, with today€™s results, the Championship battle got significantly closer €“ we€™ll have four guys really fighting hard in the final races, which certainly adds a dramatic component to the year.€ Trio of Guest Drivers at Autobahn This weekend, there were three guest drivers competing in Round Six of the 2010 season at Autobahn Country Club. One of the drivers, Richard Fisher, may have had a little inside knowledge heading into today€™s race, as he€™s a founding member of the Autobahn Country Club. Fisher, the owner of the Chicago-area Autobarn dealership group, which includes The Autobarn VW of Evanston, The Autobarn VW of Mt. Prospect and The Autobarn VW of Countryside, finished an impressive 12th this morning. €œThe Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup has really done a fantastic job highlighting the performance of these clean diesel vehicles,€ said Fisher. €œAny time you have a Series committed to getting people to understand the capabilities of these Jetta TDI Cup cars, I am certainly behind it. Today was very exciting and I€™m certainly happy that I had an opportunity to participate.€ In addition to Fisher, Steve Hendricks, General Manager of Luther Westside VW in Minneapolis finished 20th and Jesse Will, a writer for Maxim Magazine placed 28th.