From Shea Holbrook PR

March 25, 2012

(St. Petersburg, FL) – Beautiful weather and huge crowds were abundant for the season opener of the SCCA Pro Racing Pirelli World Challenge drivers as they commenced their 2012 season as part of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.  The double header weekend began with Holbrook showing considerable speed in practice with her TrueCar No. 67 Honda Civic Si race car a top of the practice leader board early in the weekend.  Qualifying for race one resulted in a 7th place starting position for the first race.  At the start of the first race the always challenging standing start made for an exciting race for Holbrook as she sliced her Civic through the field for a 5th place finish. “That was a solid finish” said Holbrook after the race, “The team spent considerable time and effort preparing and enhancing our racing operation for this season opener, and a top five was very rewarding.”

The start of race two had Holbrook starting sixth on the grid, and that is where she remained for much of the race until a lap 11 incident in turn one ended her day.  The No. 67 TrueCar Civic dove deep into turn one to make an aggressive pass on a GTS Class car that she had been battling with much of the race.  That move resulted in hard contact to the rear suspension and wheel that proved to be too severe to allow her to continue.  “The Compass 360 crew attempted all they could to get me back in the race” Holbrook said from pit lane “ I really hoped for a better finish to the day, but we will regroup and look forward to the next race at Miller.”  “I really want to thank the team from Compass 360, they provided me with a great car for the weekend and the future looks bright for us to have a successful 2012 season” said Holbrook after the race.

Not only was it an important weekend for Holbrook but also her new sponsor TrueCar as four of the six TrueCar Racing drivers competed in the grand prix. TrueCar’s Director of Motorsports, Charles Kim had much to say about Holbrook’s success on track. “I’m very proud of Shea after this big weekend for all of us. She’s a strong competitor and her charisma makes for a perfect TrueCar Racing “Women Empowered” representative. We’re looking forward to seeing her on the podium soon” said Kim.

Holbrook was just as busy off track last weekend as one of her Compass360 Racing teammates explained, “It was impressive to see her working just as hard out of the car with fans and media” said Todd Lamb 2nd place finisher in both of the weekend’s races.

Owner of Compass360 Racing, Karl Thompson was pleased with Holbrook’s results. “Shea really impressed us this weekend in her first race meeting as a driver for our team. She took a measured, analytical approach to each session, improving her lap times and working closely with her coach. We’re looking forward to another great event in Utah in a month’s time” said Thompson.

Watch the double header weekend online at www.world-challengetv.com and on NBC Sports Network April 8, 2012 4:30-6:00pm EST.

Special thanks to the fans, TrueCar, Lucas Oil, Premier Capital, Eibach Springs, K&N Filters.

About Shea Holbrook

Shea’s passion for driving started when she was 16 with a “Richard Petty Experience.” Shea quickly began excelling in the motorsports world through high performance driving events all throughout Florida. She then went on to obtain her SCCA license and since then Shea has been road racing competitively all over the nation with many organizations, from sprint races to 25 hour enduros. Shea debuted her first professional race season with SCCA World Challenge Pro Racing in 2010 finishing 6th in the championship. In 2011, Shea became the first woman to win a Touring Car race at the Long Beach Grand Prix with Pirelli World Challenge along with winning Best Standing Start and the Hard Charger Award. She’s also the fourth women to of ever won a professional race at Long Beach alongside Katherine Legge, Dancia Patrick and Simona De Silvestro. Shea is currently attending the University of Central Florida majoring in Communications/Marketing in which she’ll graduate in May. Something you may not know about Shea is that she is an accomplished national competitive water skier holding numerous state, regional and national titles. Shea received the “Living Legend Honoree Award” for her on and off track efforts and has been honored in the “Women in Motorsports” SuperCars Super Show Exhibit. In 2008, Shea became a “Women in the Winners Circle” graduate of the Lyn St. James program. “Fear is a state of mind, will is an action taken.” Shea lives this quote and believes through commitment and determination anything is possible. Helping others is another love of Shea’s. Shea Racing partnered up with Frito Lay Corp., in 2008 to raise $12,500 for the Susan G. Komen “For the Cure.” She has also raised thousands of dollars and awareness for her charity of choice, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD.) PPMD benefits Duchenne muscular dystrophy which affects her own family.

You can follow Shea Holbrook on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SheaRacing and like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SheaRacing or www.SheaRacing.com

About TrueCar, Inc.

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TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive solutions provider focused on changing how cars are sold by providing a significantly better consumer experience while helping qualified dealer partners gain incremental market share and reduce costs. TrueCar is a visual publisher of new and used car transaction data. TrueCar price reports help both dealers and consumers to agree on the parameters of a fair deal by providing an accurate, comprehensive and simple understanding of what others actually paid recently for an identically-equipped vehicle both locally and nationally. TrueCar works with a national network of dealers that provide a no-hassle car buying experience. In addition, TrueCar assists some of the nation’s largest and most well respected membership and service organizations to meet the auto buying needs of their members and customers. TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and has offices in San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX.  Since 2006, TrueCar has connected hundreds of thousands of consumers with dealers nationwide resulting in dealers selling over 400,000 vehicles and is developing a suite of products and services centered on radical clarity through the comprehensive analysis of market data and information.

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