Cattaneo Heads To Barber in a Mini Cooper Mar. 29, 2010 Michael Harker DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 29, 2010) - The thought of a Mini Cooper usually evokes a compact car, dark forest green paint job and a Union Jack flag on the roof of the car. However, that won't be exactly the scene for those cars competing in GRAND-AM's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner class on April 10 at Barber Motorsports Park. Drivers in a trio of Mini Cooper models will race against competitors in Chevrolet Cobalts, Mazda MX-5s and Honda Civics in a two-and-a-half hour race at the scenic 2.3-mile, 17-turn track in Birmingham, Ala. Among those driving is 24-year-old Sarah Cattaneo, who, like prominent female driver Danica Patrick, calls Scottsdale, Ariz., home. Cattaneo is in her second full season competing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, and recently won her first career ST class pole position at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Her team, RSR Motorsports, finished fourth at Barber Motorsports Park last season. Cattaneo has been interested in speed, or more specifically horsepower, since she was young. Cattaneo began riding horses and at age 6 began participating in equestrian competition. Over a 12-year span, Cattaneo won numerous championships around the U.S. While attending Arizona State University, where she later obtained a bachelor's degree in real estate, Cattaneo turned her focus to speed in a different form - cars. She participated in the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving near Phoenix in 2006, and won back-to-back amateur racing titles in 2007 and 2008. She made her Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge debut in October 2008 at Virginia International Raceway with RSR Motorsports, based in Mesa, Ariz., and founded by Randy Smalley, owner of the Cruise America RV chain. Cattaneo spent the majority of the 2009 season with Freedom Autosport, a team fielding Mazda MX-5s, and earned a career-best finish of sixth at Barber. She returned to her former team, RSR, for the 2010 season opener at Daytona International Speedway, and came up with her first pole at Homestead-Miami, where she led a field of 31 cars to the green flag. Now, Cattaneo heads back to Barber with confidence. She'll drive the supercharged No. 197 Cruise America/4 Winds RV Mini Cooper - which produces about 210 horsepower, weighs 2,300 pounds and has a wheelbase of 97 inches - with Fresno, Calif., co-driver VJ Mirzayan. Cattaneo and Mirzayan's Mini Cooper is one of 65 cars entered for the two-and-a-half hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Barber at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 10. The third round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, the Porsche 250, precedes the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race, with the green flag flying around noon CT.