Round 9 / Race 2 – World Series by Renault, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain (October 29, 2006) – Canada’s Sean McIntosh rounded out an impressive rookie season racing in the 2006 World Series by Renault by capturing pole position and taking a third place podium finish in Race 2 today in Round 9’s season finale hosted at the Spanish Circuit de Catalunya. 

In claiming his second podium of the season, following a second place finish at Spa-Francorchamps back in July, the 21-year-old Team KTR driver from Vancouver comfortably sealed sixth overall in the Driver Standings from a 30-strong field boasting some of the world’s most talented up-and-coming open-wheel racers competing in 420bhp 3.5-litre Dallara-Renault’s.

Race 2, Qualifying (Pole – Sean McIntosh (CAN), 1m27.115s)

Having qualified seventh for the previous day’s race, where he finished fifth, McIntosh was again on form around the 4.6km Barcelona track this morning.  His first flying lap was good for second in the 15-car Group B outing but he held out to post an even quicker lap in the dying stages of the session to pip title-challenger Alx Danielsson to fastest lap by two hundredths of a second, the Canadian subsequently claiming his maiden World Series by Renault pole position.  Group A’s fastest runner, Venezuala’s Pastor Maldonado, joined McIntosh on the front-row of the grid for this afternoon’s 26-lap race.

Race 2, 26 Laps (Winner – Alvaro Parente (POR), Victory Engineering)

A touch of wheel spin at the start of the race was enough to drop McIntosh from first to third heading into the first turn at the Circuit de Catalunya but from there the Canadian racer kept on the pace to ensure he held a top-three position throughout the race.  Setting identical lap times with race-leader Pastor Maldonado and second-placed Alvaro Parente, a slick pit stop almost edged McIntosh ahead of Maldonado but the race lead went to Parente with Maldonado second and Sean third, the top-three running order remaining the same at the checkered flag!

Sean McIntosh - #6 Team KTR:

“It’s been a good day and a great way to end the season.  Pole position was awesome and third at the flag was pretty good although naturally I’d have liked the win.  You always want to win, the same goes for the championship but to take sixth overall in my rookie season competing across Europe in this field is a decent result.  I’ve learned a lot, I’m certainly a stronger driver now and I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds regarding next season!”

2006 WSR FINAL DRIVER STANDINGS: 1^st Alx Danielsson (SWE) 104 - CHAMPION, 2^nd Andy Soucek (ESP) 101, 3^rd Pastor Maldonado (VEN) 98, 4^th Borja Garcia (ESP) 97, 5^th Alvaro Parente (POR) 96, *6^th SEAN MCINTOSH (CAN) 63,  7^th Christian Montanari (SMR) 46, 8^th Davide Valsecchi (ITA) 43, 9^th Milos Pavlovic (SGC) 41, 10^th Mikhail Aleshin (RUS) 41.

ENDS – www.seanmcintosh.com

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