A Grey and Soggy day at Miami Speedway Brightened by Best Buddies visiting Dion von Moltke

MIAMI, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Young sports car professional race car driver, Dion von Moltke, welcomed a number of important visitors to Homestead Miami Speedway and the APR Motorsports tent on a very wet, wild  and windy Sunday.  He was especially pleased to meet a group of special people from the Best Buddies Miami organization who arrived just as the beautiful number 51 APR Audi R8 was being wheeled out to the starting grid of the Miami Grand Prix.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120501/FL98695-a )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120501/FL98695-b )

"I was pleased to be able to spend some time before the race with these very special people and the volunteers, who give so much of their time to the friendships and leadership development for their buddies, those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).  A very special thank you goes to Bethany Luna of Homestead Miami Speedway – she went out of her way in arranging for the Best Buddies visit and has proven to be one of the best people to work with in the racing business."  said Dion, following the rain soaked race.

Von Moltke started the race in 12th place in the GT class of the total field of 28 Grand-AM Rolex sports cars.  Following the start in the pouring rain, Dion drove the Audi all the way up to 7th position before handing over to his co-driver, Dr. Jim Norman, after approximately 45 minutes that saw multiple cars sliding off and into the thick mud on various corners around the track.  The rain unfortunately then got the better of the R8, causing a number of mechanical problems that slowed its performance, eventually leading to a 17th place finish.

"I was also happy to have several students from my college, Florida International University (FIU) join us today.  Thanks here again to Bethany for her support as well as to APR for providing lunch to the Best Buddies and FIU visitors.  We also had guests from our sponsors South African Airways and PR Newswire here today.  It was a tough day to be at the track as a spectator but hopefully everyone had a really good time.  I hope to see our relationship with Best Buddies grow over time – theirs is a very worthy cause and we will do what we can to help," added Dion, after he had time to reflect on the events of the day.

The next race on von Moltke's schedule is at New Jersey Motorsports Park on May 12th.  

About Best Buddies International:  Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies is a vibrant organization that has grown from one original chapter to almost 1,500 middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. Today, Best Buddies' seven formal programs – Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies® , Jobs and Ambassadors – engage participants in each of the 50 states and in 50 countries, positively impacting the lives of nearly 700,000 people with and without disabilities around the world. As a result of their involvement with Best Buddies, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities secure rewarding jobs, live on their own, become inspirational leaders, and make lifelong friendships. For more information, please visit www.bestbuddies.org, facebook.com/bestbuddies or twitter.com/bestbuddies.

ABOUT Parathyroid.com  Parathyroid.com is an educational website discussing the adverse health issues associated with high blood calcium. It is recognized as the leading authority on hyperparathyroidism caused by parathyroid tumors located in the neck which affect one in 1000 people causing high blood calcium, osteoporosis, chronic fatigue, depression, and kidney stones, among other conditions. For more information, visit www.parathyroid.com.

ABOUT PR NEWSWIRE  PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 57 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content - from rich media to online video to multimedia - and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.

About South African Airways

South African Airways features daily nonstop service from the U.S. to South Africa with morning departures from New York JFK and afternoon direct service from Washington Dulles (with a stop in Dakar, Senegal) that offer travel convenience and award-winning service. Travelers in Premium Business Class enjoy 180 degree fully flat-bed seats, and in Economy Class enjoy the most legroom versus competitors.  Every seat on board offers an individual on-demand entertainment system, plush pillow, warm blanket and amenity kit.  SAA's unrivaled network, featuring seamless connections to nearly 20 destinations within South Africa, and more than 25 cities across the rest of the continent, makes the airline the savvy traveler's "gateway to Africa."  To complement this network, a world of privileges awaits those who join Voyager, South African Airways' premier mileage program.  To sign up, visit www.flysaa.com, and link to the Voyager icon. As a Star Alliance member, South African Airways is able to offer its customers 1,290 destinations in 189 countries and more than 21,000 flights daily, including convenient connections from more than 25 cities in the U.S. through code share service with Star Alliance member United Airlines. Members of United's, US Airways' and Air Canada's frequent traveler programs are able to earn and redeem miles on all SAA flights.  For more information on South African Airways, please call (800) 722-9675 or visit www.flysaa.com, where travelers can sign up to be notified of other great travel deals and vacation packages.  For information about South Africa, visit www.southafrica.net.

ABOUT APR:  APR LLC is an automotive engineering firm operating a 36,000 sq. ft. performance campus in Opelika, Ala. APR was founded in 1997 with a corporate philosophy of Integrity, Excellence and Innovation. APR's sole mission is to provide the highest quality and most highly engineered aftermarket performance parts available for Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT and Skoda vehicles. Learn more at www.goapr.com, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/APRMotorsport, and on twitter (@GoAPR).

SOURCE APR Motorsports