German championship driver, Klaus Graf teams up with Rocketsports Racing and Jaguar to compete for the 2005 Trans-Am Series Driver Championship. The 15 year veteran of road racing will drive the No. 7 Jaguar R Performance XKR powered by the Rocketsports developed Jaguar AJ-V8 production based power plant.
The 33 year old German driver’s hold impressive credentials with two International driver’s championships, two Le Mans 24 hour starts, three seasons in the American Le Mans Series and one NASCAR Nextel Cup start. In addition to his racing activities, Graf is also a safety training instructor and test driver.
Graf is looking forward to the new opportunity the Trans-Am series offers. “I am glad to have this opportunity,” declared Graf. “With the past success of Rocketsports and Jaguar I feel we can achieve success quickly and my goal is to win the Trans-Am championship this year.”
Rocketsports Racing looks to three-peat with the 2005 Trans-Am driver’s championship. Winning seven times in 2004, Rocketsports reached their 52nd series win and their fifth championship. Appropriately, the team’s milestone 50th victory was the first for the four-valve Jaguar production based AJ-V8 engine.
Finding the caliber of driver to fill a seat that was once occupied by champions Scott Pruett and Tommy Kendall is a difficult task,” said Rocketsports owner Paul Gentilozzi. “There are certain expectations that Jaguar and myself put on drivers, Klaus surpasses those expectations. He is an experienced driver with the knowledge to deliver Jaguar their fifth manufacturer’s championship.”
Graf will join Rocketsports teammates Gentilozzi and Tomy Drissi on the starting grid of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 10th as the first German national to compete in the Trans-Am series in 17 years.
