Farnbacher Loles were unlucky at Laguna and could have taken the class win
Chip Ganassi
Suntrust Racing
AIM Autosport
Farnbacher Loles
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Chip Ganassi
Podium Finish for Pruett and Rojas at Laguna Seca, Consistency is Key for Championship
MONTEREY, Calif. (May 17, 2008)-Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas focused on the bigger picture of the driver and team championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (MRLS) in the No.01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Lexus Riley with a third place finish as they maneuvered through eight cautions in the timed two-hour forty-five minute event.
An early off-sequence pit stop for the CGRFS Daytona Prototype (DP) allowed the team to gain valuable track position on the first restart (lap 20). After Pruett assumed the lead on lap 36, the TELMEX team's strategy through the mid-point of the race was to conserve fuel. A final splash of fuel by lap 58 allowed Pruett to run in the top-three positions throughout the remaining 40 laps. With the No.2 and 91 car battling for the lead, Pruett aimed his focus on the championship and avoided making risky moves on the track. Saturday's podium finish marked the third top-three finish for the No.01 TELMEX team in four visits to MRLS.
With the result, Pruett and Rojas maintain the lead in the Rolex series driver and team championship race with 167 points, 19 points over the No.91 Goossens/Matthews car (148).
Next up for the team is the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on Saturday, June 7th at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, NY at 11:15 am ET (LIVE June 7th 11:00 am, 2:30 pm ET, SPEED).
Scott Pruett "Today was all about strategy. We knew going into today's race that there would be a lot of cautions and that the race would likely be timed. I suppose I was most surprised about the lack of cautions at the beginning of the race and how many came toward the end of the event. The TELMEX team ran a smart race today -- we didn't do anything stupid to risk our championship points hold and I am pleased with the outcome and am glad to leave Laguna Seca with a consistent finish and the points lead."
Memo Rojas "It was very nice to get back to Laguna Seca again. I did a lot of racing here earlier in my open-wheel racing career and returning here for the second time in the Grand-Am cars with Scott was comforting. I did my best to hand the car over to Scott in a good spot and keep away from any trouble in the beginning of the race. I'm definitely excited about our lead in the points and look forward to having a top-finish at Watkins Glen in a few weeks. The TELMEX Ganassi team did a great job this weekend giving us a strong car."
Suntrust Racing
Eighth Is Not Enough, But It'll Have To Do
SunTrust Team Overcomes Early Contact, Stop-and-Go Penalty To Finish Eighth in Rolex Series RumBum.com 250 at Laguna Seca
An eighth-place finish has never been something to celebrate in the four-plus seasons SunTrust has competed in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. But after Max Angelelli and Michael Valiante brought the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing home in eighth at the conclusion of Saturday's RumBum.com 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, they and their SunTrust teammates have a bona fide finish for their new Dallara chassis to build upon as they leave the outskirts of Monterey, Calif., with nine races remaining.
Like the past three races, however, this one also wasn't without incident.
Less than three turns after taking the green flag, the team got a radio call from Valiante saying he was hit hard from behind by the No. 91 Pontiac of Jim Matthews. It was the last thing the team wanted or needed to hear after having its last three race efforts ruined by contact from behind by other competitors. The contact this time caused no damage, however. Starting from the seventh position he earned in qualifying Friday afternoon, Valiante kept the SunTrust car under control and went on to complete a stellar 59-lap stint during which he spent the final nine laps in the lead.
Valiante handed the car over to Angelelli on a lap-59 pit stop under yellow and the Italian former series champion resumed in 11th place -- or so he thought. As Angelelli merged into traffic while exiting the pits, he was brushed from behind by the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche of driver Bill Auberlen. During a subsequent yellow on lap 64, Grand-Am officials notified the team that Angelelli was to serve a stop-and-go penalty for the pit road contact, which Angelelli served under green on lap 72. It cost the SunTrust car several positions and, more importantly, valuable distance to the lead pack he was trying to catch with one of the fastest cars on the track.
"A car that is coming is responsible because it can see what is happening in front of him. I can't. It's that simple," said Angelelli, who worked his way up to the final finishing position of eighth over the final 26 laps of today's 98-lap event. "I followed exactly the rules they told us in the driver briefing. They explained it in the briefing several times that no car is allowed to occupy the middle lane on pit road. The 23 car was in the middle lane with a car next to it in the outside lane. It made contact with me from behind, but I am the one who got penalized. That is not consistent with the way the rule was explained to us. I don't understand why we got penalized. But, unfortunately, we have to suffer the consequences we do."
"It was a tough weekend, but we persevered," Valiante added. "We're continually just trying to develop the car, making it quicker and quicker. We made progress on it this weekend. I still think we have a lot of room for improvement. Things were going well in the race today. We led some laps. Unfortunately, there was some contact in the pits. We had the stop-and-go penalty that put us back. But we finished the race. Hopefully, this starts a string of finishes. The hit at the start of the race was a pretty hard hit, but the car was fine. We've just got to keep persevering like we did today. We've got to keep finishing races rather than getting taken out."
The No. 2 SAMAX BMW Riley of Henri Zogaib and Ryan Dalziel scored its first Rolex Series victory today, crossing the finish line 1.5 seconds ahead of the runner-up No. 91 Bob Stallings/Riley-Matthews Racing Pontiac Riley of Jim Matthews and Marc Goosens. The series-leading No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, winners of three of the first four races this season, finished third today.
"We're going to win the next race," Angelelli said. "That's how I feel. We have the best team. We have the best people. We have a great car. We are going to win races this year. End of story."
AIM Autosport
AIM Autosport records another top ten finishTeam now sits 10th overall in series championship
The Exchange Traded Gold #61 Ford Riley was quick once again and both drivers, Brian Frisselle and Mark Wilkins, put in a strong performance to guide the car to its second P6 finish on the season. It was a tight battle among the Daytona Prototype cars throughout the race and on this track, where it can be difficult to pass, the team made up positions following pit stops and cautions. A dusty track on a late race restart had everyone scrambling into the first turn and Mark had to fight to keep the car on track but he held on and again, fought back to regain positions.
Team strategy would have Brian Frisselle pit on lap one to cover the mandatory stop and he then put in some early fast laps that kept the car in good position. The #61 Ford Riley would then go to P2 as the rest of the field came in for their first round of pit stops. Brian would then go P1 when the leader had to come in for their mandatory stop.
"We had to make some adjustments early on" noted Brian. "Contact on the opening lap broke off one of the front dive planes which upset the handling a bit but we were able to adjust the front a rear bars to compensate and the car settled in nicely."
The team elected to pit on the next full course caution for fuel, tires and a driver change. A problem with the air jacks caused a momentary delay and Mark Wilkins would re-enter the track P15 and over the next twenty-five laps, he would make up positions.
After two more full course cautions, the #61 Ford Riley was sitting P10 and the team would make up another four positions in the pits when Mark came in for a splash of fuel and two front tires.
"We had to adjust our strategy when the race had a long run under the green which we did not expect" noted team manager Ian Willis. "We had a good second stop with Mark and gaining positions in the pits which made up for our earlier problems."
Yet another caution - one of eight on the day - bunched up the field and the a after restart, Mark made up two more positions to P4. He reported on the radio that "The car is good and that we just need to get some heat in the new tires." This would come into play on a later restart when the lead pack went deep into corner one and with everyone locking up, Mark went a bit wide and got into the dirty part of the track. "I had nowhere to go except the outside and we picked up a lot of junk on the tires and we lost a couple of positions" Mark reported.
Through the final ten laps a combination of hard racing and lapped traffic stopped Mark from mounting a good charge but he did move back to P6 where the Exchange Traded Gold #61 Ford Riley ended the day.
Willis commented after the race, "We keep knocking on the door and the team keeps getting stronger. This matches our best result so far this season and we are sitting on three top ten finishes. The six hour race at The Glen next month will be a real test of how close we are to scoring that podium everyone on the team is hoping for."
Farnbacher Loles
Farnbacher Loles Racing led the GT class with two cars during the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, but late-race contact took the defending class championship car out of contention.
Pierre Kaffer of Salenstein, Switzerland, started the No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car from second on the GT grid. He pitted for an early driver change to Dirk Werner of Kissenbruck, Germany, who returned to the track in third place. Werner took the class lead after 96 minutes of the two-hour 45-minute race and led for almost an hour. With 22 minutes to go, he was hit by another car and spun off into a gravel trap, damaging the nose of the car. He lost two laps waiting for a tow, then returned to the race to finish 12th.
Eric Lux of Jacksonville, Fla., charged from his 11th-place GT start position in the No. 86 Porsche to lead the class during the first flurry of pitstops. He pitted from second and Leh Keen of Charleston, S.C., took the wheel, returning to the track eighth. He worked back through the field to finish 5th.
Steve Johnson of Bristol, Va., and Dave Lacey of Toronto had a strong race in the No. 88 Porsche. Lacey started 13th and raced as high as fourth before handing off to Johnson from 10th in class with about an hour left in the race. Johnson gained three positions to seventh.
Leh Keen, No. 86: "Ever since we pulled the car off the trailer on Friday, it was pretty good. We had the fastest Porsche race time! Eric did a great job -- he came from the back and gave me the car in second. There was a lot of carnage the whole race. I didn't know if I wanted to just keep it on track and go for a solid finish or maybe go for a podium again. There was a lot of stuff going on in front and behind me; a lot of people got aggressive and went off into the sand traps and their races ended. We had a good car and a solid car; we're very happy with a top-five. We've got a lot of momentum from the last couple of races."
Eric Lux, No. 86: "The Farnbacher Loles team has consistently given us great cars for every race. Today was no different. I was determined to make up for my poor qualifying position and hand the car over to my teammate in a respectable place. Early on, I made a run towards the front, then was squeezed wide in turn two by a competitor and had a spin. I think I rejoined around 20th position and ran as hard as I could, keeping the tires under the car. We double-stinted our tires and stayed out as much as possible; the car was very good on old tires, so I could run quick times. We led the race for a short while, then I could not keep the 70 Mazda behind any longer and had to give in to second. I turned the car over to Leh and he did a stellar job keeping it up front and avoiding the mayhem!"
Pierre Kaffer, No. 87: "The race was perfect in the beginning -- I could go the same speed as the [class pole-winning] Mazda. It was quite exciting to race with all the traffic, and our car was really good. We made our planned stop in the first full-course yellow caution and Dirk drove to the end. The car was really fast. For me, it was great again to be part of the team. It's really very organized and professional. Hopefully, we'll be together again next time in Watkins Glen."
Dirk Werner, No. 87: "It seems like we have a period when all the bad luck comes to us, especially in Grand-Am the last two races. The car was great and the pit strategy was so good, we were in front at the end. But another driver thought perhaps it would be good to drive through my car -- that didn't work out, obviously. I don't think we have a chance on the championship now, but I hope we can get some good results to get the motivation back to the team and the drivers. That's all I can ask for now."
Dave Lacey, No. 88: "We're very happy with the result -- the seventh-place finish was terrific! We had a game plan going into the weekend to try to stay clean, not get into anybody and keep the car in one piece. I managed to do that in my stint and then Steve did a great job in the second stint, just chipping away and getting us up into seventh place. We're happy with the result and we look forward to improving the car for our next race."