3-2-07 -- For Immediate Release

Bergmeister and Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Qualify Eighth for Mexico City 400k

Jörg Bergmeister will start the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche Crawford Daytona Prototype on the outside of row four following qualifying for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve Mexico City 400k at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. 

After a frustrating day of practice yesterday, the Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team did everything they could today to put Alex Job Racing prepared Porsche Crawford on the front row for tomorrow's race. Bergmeister turned his fastest lap early in the session. But, his effort came up a little short, as the team decided that was all of the speed they could get out of the car. With that in mind, they had Bergmeister park the car after only three qualifying laps. Bergmeister's fastest qualifying lap of 1:22.201 (109.488 mph) was good enough for eighth on the grid.

"I did as much as I could, but we just weren't quick enough," Bergmeister said of his qualifying run. "We are still fighting a huge push in the slow speed corners. So, we still have a lot of work to do until tomorrow and hopefully we can close the gap a little."

"We just keep moving forward," Long said of the strategy heading into tomorrow's race. "Theoretically, we are a day behind because of the incidents and mishaps yesterday. We are going to use the warm-up tomorrow to try a few more setup changes. We have some good ideas about what changes to make. Then, in the race you've got to be smart. It's going to be a lot about traffic management and strategy. I think we've got a really good team behind us so we should be O.K."

"P8 is not what we were hoping for," team owner Alex Job said of his team's qualifying position. "We knew we were going to struggle in qualifying because we pretty much lost  all day yesterday with mechanical problems. This morning's practice session really was the first time we got the chance to work with the car. Basically, we are a day behind. That being said, we knew we did not have a shot at being up front, but we had hoped for a better position than P8. We'll start on the fourth row and see what we can do in the race."

After finishing 12th in the Grand-Am Rolex Series season opener at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Bergmeister and Long both sit in 12th position with 19 points in the Daytona Prototype driver point standings.

Grand-Am race fans can catch all of the exciting race action from Mexico City on Speed Channel beginning at 3 p.m. (CST) Saturday, March 3, with the green flag dropping at 3:15 p.m. (CST).

Ruby Tuesday is one of the nation's leading casual-dining restaurant companies, with more than 900 restaurants worldwide. It was founded in 1972 by Sandy Beall, who serves as Chairman and CEO today.  The company is committed to having uncompromising freshness and quality with passionate employees who take pride in delighting guests with an excellent dining experience. The burger-centric menu features an assortment of handcrafted burgers, its fresh garden bar, premium baby
back ribs and a variety of other signature entrées. Ruby Tuesday, Inc. is traded on the NY Stock Exchange (symbol: RI). To find out more about Ruby Tuesday, visit www.rubytuesday.com.