RANGER ROLLS INTO TORONTO AS LEADING CANADIAN CCWS DRIVER

TORONTO, ON – A year ago, Andrew Ranger headed into the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto as the points leader in the Champ Car World Series rookie standings. This year, the Roxton Pond, Quebec native enters the Toronto race – the first of three Champ Car events in Canada – as the leading Canadian driver in the series.

Five top-10 finishes in the six Champ Car races thus far have propelled Ranger into an impressive fourth place in the 2006 drivers’ standings. His 99 points top fellow Canadians Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy, who have compiled 90 and 81 points respectively.

“The goal entering this season was to continue to build on my strong rookie year, and we’ve been able to do that through the first six races,” said Ranger, who drives for the Tide/Mi-Jack Conquest team. “With the exception of the last race in Cleveland, where we struggled all weekend, I’m happy with the way things have gone this season. We haven’t always had a very good position on the starting grid but we’ve managed to make up for it during the race.”

In fact, Ranger has earned an extra point in four of the six races for being the most improved driver on the track, in gaining the most positions during the course of the race. His best performance in this regard was in the season-opener at Long Beach, where he started 16th on the grid and finished sixth. He matched the sixth-place finish at the next race, in Houston, coming from 13th on the grid.

When Ranger made his first Champ Car appearance in Toronto last year, he was in ninth place in the drivers’ standings, with 69 points. He was poised for a top-10 finish before his home-country supporters but his engine suddenly cut out in the final laps and Ranger failed to finish. Two years ago, Ranger had a much more successful race in Toronto, making it to the podium with a second-place finish in the Atlantic series event.

Ranger has plenty of reasons to be eager about returning to Toronto. Not only is it the first opportunity of the season to perform in front of a partisan crowd, it’s also an occasion to spend some time at the track with youngsters and their families who will be special guests of the Tide @ Wal-Mart Victory Lap Charity Program, for which Ranger is the spokesperson. The tour, which is visiting 92 Wal-Mart stores across Canada this summer, raises funds in support of the Children’s Miracle Network and its affiliated hospitals throughout Canada.

“I really enjoy meeting the kids and their families,” said Ranger. “I hope their visit to the track helps, in some way, to bring a smile to their face and gives them some fun time together. When you see the courage these people have, it makes any problem you have at the race track seem very small.”