Congrats, Rojas/Pruett for winning Mid-Ohio Grand-Am race in Lexus powered prototype
06-20-09, 05:08 PM
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G35x - RWD/AWD goodness
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Congrats, Rojas/Pruett for winning Mid-Ohio Grand-Am race in Lexus powered prototype
Just caught the end of a very good race, Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett for winning Mid-Ohio Grand-Am race in Lexus powered prototype. They're now leading overall in the series. 
06-21-09, 05:58 AM
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Pruett, Rojas win second-straight Grand-Am race at Mid-Ohio
Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas needed five starts in the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series to win their first race of the season. They didn't have to wait long to post victory number two, driving to win Saturday's EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The defending Daytona Prototype champions dominated the second half race, leading the final 35 laps in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Lexus before Pruett held off Ricardo Zonta in a fight to the finish to win by 0.491 second.
Meanwhile, the Farnbacher Loles Racing team bounced back from a post-qualifying penalty in the GT class. Leh Keen and Dirk Warner gave the team its second consecutive victory, second straight triumph at Mid-Ohio and third win of 2009.
"My hat's off to Ricardo Zonta," Pruett said after scoring his 22nd Rolex Series win, following up the team's triumph two weeks ago at Watkins Glen. "We were both driving like it was qualifying. It was an unbelievable event. It was crazy, because we were trying to race as fast as we can, carving our way through traffic and trying not to hit anyone. It's a good thing we had a fast car that ran well all day long. But it was a real nail-biter at the end."
The winners came from a lap down. Rojas was penalized for improper fueling following a pit stop on lap one, and then had to pit after contact with another car.
"We had a really quick car," Rojas said after his ninth career win. "Fortunately, some good calls by the crew and some luck with cautions put us back on the lead lap, and Scott did a great job turning fast laps in traffic to get the win."
A turning point came when Pruett anticipated a full course caution when he saw the No. 2 Childress Howard Motorsports Crawford-Pontiac stranded near the pit entrance. Pruett pitted before the third of four full-course caution periods began, then inherited the lead when leaders Max Angelelli and Burt Frisselle pitted and held it the rest of the way.
Zonta took second in the No. 76 Krohn Aviation Lola-Ford started by Nic Jönsson, giving the team its second podium finish of the season. The team won last month's race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, seeking their third consecutive Mid-Ohio win in the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Riley-Pontiac, placed third.
Pruett and Rojas took sole possession of the Daytona Prototype points lead, 11 points ahead of Gurney and Fogarty (175 versus 164). No. 10 SunTrust Dallara-Ford drivers Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle entered the event with a share of the lead, but are now third, 12 points behind.
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas placed fourth in the Penske Racing No. 12 Riley-Porsche, and are now fourth in the points, 13 points behind.
While the race was accident-free, it was slowed four times for 17 laps under caution.
Starting last in the GT class after a post-qualifying inspection nullified Keen's apparent pole-winning run, Keen and Werner came back to lead 45 laps to capture their third victory of the season in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3.
Keen led two laps at the end of his run before turning the car over to Werner, the 2007 GT champion. Werner then led the final 43 laps. Keen won the 2008 race at Mid-Ohio for Farnbacher Loles with Eric Lux. It was also the second consecutive victory for Keen and Werner, and third in the last four races.
Werner won by 2.839 seconds over Robin Liddell, who drove the No. 57 Pontiac GXP.R started by Andrew Davis, who led 11 laps early in the event. A similar Pontiac also finished third, with defending series champions Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins.
Tom Sutherland and Dane Cameron finished fourth in the No. 30 Mazda RX-8, with the drivers combining to lead a race-high 47 laps. Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato took fifth in SpeedSource's No. 69 Mazda RX-8, while TV star Patrick Dempsey placed a career-best sixth in the Dempsey Racing No. 40 Mazda RX-8 he shared with Joe Foster.
Nick Ham led three laps in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 co-driven by Sylvain Tremblay, but mechanical problems dropped the team to an 11th-place finish.
For more Grand-Am racsing news and reports, click here.
Meanwhile, the Farnbacher Loles Racing team bounced back from a post-qualifying penalty in the GT class. Leh Keen and Dirk Warner gave the team its second consecutive victory, second straight triumph at Mid-Ohio and third win of 2009.
"My hat's off to Ricardo Zonta," Pruett said after scoring his 22nd Rolex Series win, following up the team's triumph two weeks ago at Watkins Glen. "We were both driving like it was qualifying. It was an unbelievable event. It was crazy, because we were trying to race as fast as we can, carving our way through traffic and trying not to hit anyone. It's a good thing we had a fast car that ran well all day long. But it was a real nail-biter at the end."
The winners came from a lap down. Rojas was penalized for improper fueling following a pit stop on lap one, and then had to pit after contact with another car.
"We had a really quick car," Rojas said after his ninth career win. "Fortunately, some good calls by the crew and some luck with cautions put us back on the lead lap, and Scott did a great job turning fast laps in traffic to get the win."
A turning point came when Pruett anticipated a full course caution when he saw the No. 2 Childress Howard Motorsports Crawford-Pontiac stranded near the pit entrance. Pruett pitted before the third of four full-course caution periods began, then inherited the lead when leaders Max Angelelli and Burt Frisselle pitted and held it the rest of the way.
Zonta took second in the No. 76 Krohn Aviation Lola-Ford started by Nic Jönsson, giving the team its second podium finish of the season. The team won last month's race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, seeking their third consecutive Mid-Ohio win in the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Riley-Pontiac, placed third.
Pruett and Rojas took sole possession of the Daytona Prototype points lead, 11 points ahead of Gurney and Fogarty (175 versus 164). No. 10 SunTrust Dallara-Ford drivers Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle entered the event with a share of the lead, but are now third, 12 points behind.
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas placed fourth in the Penske Racing No. 12 Riley-Porsche, and are now fourth in the points, 13 points behind.
While the race was accident-free, it was slowed four times for 17 laps under caution.
Starting last in the GT class after a post-qualifying inspection nullified Keen's apparent pole-winning run, Keen and Werner came back to lead 45 laps to capture their third victory of the season in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3.
Keen led two laps at the end of his run before turning the car over to Werner, the 2007 GT champion. Werner then led the final 43 laps. Keen won the 2008 race at Mid-Ohio for Farnbacher Loles with Eric Lux. It was also the second consecutive victory for Keen and Werner, and third in the last four races.
Werner won by 2.839 seconds over Robin Liddell, who drove the No. 57 Pontiac GXP.R started by Andrew Davis, who led 11 laps early in the event. A similar Pontiac also finished third, with defending series champions Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins.
Tom Sutherland and Dane Cameron finished fourth in the No. 30 Mazda RX-8, with the drivers combining to lead a race-high 47 laps. Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato took fifth in SpeedSource's No. 69 Mazda RX-8, while TV star Patrick Dempsey placed a career-best sixth in the Dempsey Racing No. 40 Mazda RX-8 he shared with Joe Foster.
Nick Ham led three laps in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 co-driven by Sylvain Tremblay, but mechanical problems dropped the team to an 11th-place finish.
For more Grand-Am racsing news and reports, click here.
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