Krohn Racing had a tough weekend
GM Racing
Porsche
Ganassi
Suntrust
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GM Racing
Stevenson Motorsports Second In GT At The Glen
SunTrust Pontiac Third in DP
Watkins Glen, N.Y., June 7, 2008 -- Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis drove their Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R to second in GT today in round six of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 race run at Watkins Glen International Raceway. Max Angelelli and Michael Valiante placed third in the Daytona Prototype (DP) category.
In what became a yellow plagued race, nine cautions equaling 27 laps, complimented by 93-degree temperatures made it rough on drivers and crew at the track located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.
Andrew Davis started the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R from the fourth row. The team from North Carolina ran toward the front, led some laps and eventually finished second. The GXP.R teams were struggling with 100lb. weight penalty and no more than 49% weight on the rear tires assigned by the series following the last race at Lime Rock Park. Blistering tires were the order of the day. For Stevenson the second place finish compliments two wins at Virginia International Raceway and at Mexico City.
"We sadly didn't have anything for the 69 car," Liddell said. "I had some good battles with a lot of cars today. I had a good run with Edwards at the end of the race, but didn't have the car to get by the winner. We had to deal with the weight penalty and change in weight percentage from rear to the front. As a result we are working the rears a lot harder. We are happy with second. We just look for solid results. We had a podium at Lime Rock and one here. Two podiums in a row is good for us and solidifies what we are doing as a team."
The No. 07 Banner Pontiac GXP.R of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards started on the front row and stayed at the front of the GT field all day finishing third. The duo who has three wins on the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Laguna Seca and Lime Rock Park managed to lead 40 laps of the six-hour race.
"We had a big weight penalty on the car coming into this race," Collins said. "The GM Racing and Pratt & Miller did a great job to get a good balance on the car this weekend. The car was good all day. The brake pedal stayed high and everything went smooth. I was pushing the car and leaning it on the front tires to help save the rears. I was told that there were some blistering problems, so we had to manage our car and tires. I spent nearly three hours in the car and was fatigued and my right foot was cooking on the accelerator pedal. I think we will need to insulate the gas pedal, definitely before Barber. The air conditioning was killer today and really helped."
Autohaus Motorsports with drivers Lawson Aschenbach and Tim Lewis Jr. equaled their best finish of the year with a fourth. The team from Pompano Beach, Florida was in contention all day with a good car.
"This was the first race all year that we really ran incident free," Lewis said. "The Autohaus team did a great job with the pit stops and strategy. We couldn't equal the speed of the winning car. The team kept us in it today. The car was consistent, but a little tough to drive without the cool suit working."
In the No. 06 Banner Racing Pontiac Leighton Reese, Marc Bunting and Andy Pilgrim finished sixth on the day. Andy Pilgrim started deep in the field from the sixth row and was up to the front by the time he turned it over to Bunting.
"The car was really good," Bunting said. "We had to really manage the tires today. I had a small problem with the helmet cooling hose and finally just tucked into my suit. The AC in the car makes a huge difference. I had a few close calls in my first stint with a couple DP cars shoving me off line. But that is part of Grand-Am racing. The Pontiac was consistent and the Banner guys always have great strategy and pit work."
PR1Motorsports finished 12th on the day in their No. 32 Pontiac GXP.R. Mike Forest and Thomas Merrill completed their first endurance race.
"The race was more grueling than I expected," Forest said. "Early in the race the 21 car hit us and we had to recover from that incident which took about thirty seconds and sent us back early and eventually a lap down. After that we had a consistent run. The car was really good and the pace we were running kept the tires under the car. We really had no issues after our early event and had a strong finish."
SunTrust racing got back to their competitive ways by finishing third after six-hours. The team that had to find everything to race including a car, pit equipment, tools, drivers suits and helmets rebounded with a third place finish. Nothing was salvageable from their transporter fire on the way home from Laguna Seca three weeks ago.
"The team has been going through a rough patch especially with the fire," Valiante said. "Ganassi lent us a lot of equip and the trailer to get here. The team did incredible job to prepare the car after we ran it last in the 24 hour. The race was hot and grueling. Max did a great job with no cool suit at the end to get us to the podium. This is a new start for us. I hope our bad luck went up with the fire in Texas. We have been optimistic as a team. I think this finish is key for us right now. We just want to get back to racing and not worrying about problems or where to get equipment and cars."
In the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Motorsports Pontiac Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney came back from being a lap down to finish eighth at The Glen. Early race contact, overheating and a laundry list of issues cost the team time and track position today.
"The overheating thing is kind of a mystery," Fogarty said. "We really don't know what it was, but as soon as I got in the car things weren't going well. We had the radio antennae plate fall down in front of my face and that was a big issue for awhile. There was also a little bit of questionable tactics out there by one of the Krohn guys checking up on us, but all in all the crew did a great job, getting our lap back and keeping us in the game. Tons of things to overcome -- the nose damage, the radio deal, the punctured tire, overheating -- it was a rough one. We will get back to our old ways of winning, though, for sure. The odds of these kinds of things continuing just can't go that way."
The Krohn Racing No. 76 of Ricardo Zonta and Nic Jonsson were a fixture at the front of the field all day. The pair was able to lead seven laps and were in a position for a podium finish up until their last pit stop eventually coming home in tenth.
"The car is getting faster and faster," Jonsson said. "I think we set the second fastest race lap today. We had the car in contention all race. We came in for the last fuel stop and mistimed it with the caution. That sent us back in the field and we ended up tenth. Basically we ran in the top three or four positions all day. We have the speed in the car to run up front, we just need to put all of the elements together for a good finish. We will just keep plugging away."
Tracy Krohn and Eric van de Poele also spent a good part of the race in the top ten. The pair finished 14th in their No. 75 Krohn Racing Lola.
"We had both cars toward the front today," Krohn said. "Unfortunately we had a slight tactical error in the 76 that cost us a top finish. Our car had no cool suit, so that made for a long day behind the wheel. The car was pretty consistent all race. Every race we get better and faster."
Jim Matthews, Marc Goossens and Marcel Tiemann had a tough day that started with an early race spin by Matthews. Coming onto the front straight the car came around and backed into the wall. Matthews was able to cross the track and get into pit lane. The subsequent repairs sent the team down two laps making it difficult to recover.
"Jim had a spin in the last turn and the repairs had us down a couple laps," Goossens said. "Usually in a six-hour race with a lot of yellows like we had today you can recover from that type of situation. We couldn't today. We were fighting understeer in the car all weekend and the guys got it a little better for the race. By the time we got up to speed I could run with the front cars, but did not want to interfere with their race. After the great start to the season we had, we should probably just forget this one."
Porsche
Porsche Propels Donohue, Law to Second Place Brumos Teammates Run Strong To Post First Podium of 2008 Season
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - June 7 - The end result might not have been quite what Porsche, David Donohue, Darren Law or the Brumos Racing team had hoped for, but in finishing second in Saturday's Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International, the talented American duo scored their first podium finish and best result of the season.
Donohue and Law piloted the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche-Riley to second behind Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the seventh stop of the 2008 Rolex Grand Am Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Donohue, of Malvern, Pa., and Law, of Phoenix, Ariz., crossed the finish line 3.033 seconds behind the winners. The teammates also did their fair share of pacing the field, leading 59 of the race's 179 laps, in contrast to the 39 total laps led by the winning Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas Lexus-Riley.
"The car ran well all day—it was very balanced over the six hours," Donohue said afterward. "For us, this is a great result. We wanted to win for a lot of reasons. We have been deserving and knocking on the door for a win. For the way this season has been going, second place is a good result for us."
"Traffic was a little tough," added Law. "We seemed to always lose a little on the restarts, but it's still a good result. I was surprised I got loose even going up the hill. On the last restart Scott (Pruett) got a good jump and I just couldn't catch up to him. But the Brumos team did a great job and Porsche provided us an excellent engine." After two full-course yellows slowed the pace in the first 15 minutes, the race finally got going in earnest with Donohue leading the Porsche delegation in sixth position. The No. 58 Brumos car had moved into third at the start, but dropped a few spots while taking advantage of the caution period to pit for a splash of fuel and also to satisfy the 45-minute pit rule.
On Lap 18 and Donohue pushed the Porsche in front for the first time of the day, quickly putting distance between himself and Max Angelelli to build a 10-second lead. Alex Gurney passed for second place on Lap 26 and would reel in Donohue, making a pass the lead on Lap 37, early in the second hour.
The No. 59 Brumos team car of Daytona Beach's J.C. France continued to circulate at or near the top 10 during the first hour, but a broken throttle cable put the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Alex Job entry driven by Bill Auberlen of Redondo Beach, Cal., down a lap at the very start of the race.
Team owner Alex Job had predicted the race would be a six-hour test for his team's new Porsche-Crawford that featured a new body and aero package. He nearly got his wish, but Auberlen was forced to retire the car with only a few minutes remaining in the race. On Lap 52, race leader Alex Gurney surrendered the lead to Law, who had taken over for Donohue on Lap 38. In the meantime, Portugal's Joao Barbosa, who was on the move, jumping from eighth to sixth in the No. 59 Brumos Porsche-Riley.
The leaders used a full-course caution late in the third hour to pit, and Donohue was now driving, but his stop was lengthy enough to drop him to 13th place. By the end of the hour, Donohue had moved up to ninth. Hurley Haywood, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., took over the No. 59 Brumos entry from Barbosa. Haywood, who is running a limited schedule this year, was making his first Grand Am start since the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
Slowly, Donohue began to climb up in the standings—reaching fifth by Lap 98 and back in the lead 10 laps later. Donohue increased a six-second lead over Mark Patterson to 13 seconds before the latter made a pit stop, which then gave him a whopping 33-second margin over Pruett.
However, that lead would be short-lived as Donohue came into the pits on Lap 115 and turned over the car to Law, who rejoined in sixth. At the end of the fourth hour, Law was up to fifth with Haywood in ninth and Sacramento's Joey Hand back in 15th position in the No. 23 Alex Job entry.
Early in the fifth hour, a full-course caution again allowed the leaders to pit. Law was fifth when everyone entered the pit lane, but thanks to sharp pit work by the Brumos crew, he rejoined the race in the lead.
Traffic would play a role in allowing Pruett the close to Law, whose 2.3-second lead shrank to three-10ths of a second. However, on a clear track, it would be a different story as Law slowly built the margin back up to nearly four seconds in six laps. Most of the lead pack pitted on Lap 149, but Law stayed out for one more lap, surrendering the lead to Ricardo Zonta. Taking on enough fuel to last the remainder of the race Law rejoined in second only to be passed for second by Pruett at the entrance to the Bus Stop. In the final hour, full-course cautions allow the field to pack up behind the leader and allowed Law to keep Pruett in sight.
On Lap 164, the yellow flag came out for the final time for the retrieval of a stalled car. The caution period allowed Barbosa to make up a lap, and moved Law closer to Pruett. The stage was set for an 18-minute dash to the checker. The restart came on Lap 168 with Law on Pruett's tail, but Pruett slightly pulled away as the leaders exited the first turn. Pruett would continue to build his advantage, increasing the margin all the way to the checker. Barbosa came home ninth to give the Brumos team a pair of top-10 finishes.
Wilder Start For GT Class Runners
While the first hour was uneventful for most of the DP Class participants, a series of incidents set the tone for the race in the GT Class.
England's Peter Westbrook seemed to be the only Porsche 911 GT 3 Cup customer in GT Class to get through the first hour unscathed. The driver of the No. 66 TRG Porsche ran in the top five for most of the hour.
Early-race incidents sidelined the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing entry driven by Germany's Wolf Henzler and the No. 67 TRG entry driven by Tim George Jr. of New York, N.Y. Damage was severe enough to Henzler's car for it to be withdrawn. In the meantime, the TRG crew continued to repair the damage with the intention of letting the co-drivers earn points.
Mechanical problems also eliminated the GT Porsches of the No. 74 Mitchum Motorsports entry driven by Andy Brumbaugh of Columbia, S.C. and the No. 26 Gotham Competition of Joe Jacalone of St. Augustine, Fla.
After the wild first hour, the GT class action settled down and the second hour ended with Kevin O'Connell of Newport Beach, Calif., leading the Porsche 911 GT 3 Cup customers in fourth place in the No. 27 O'Connell Racing entry.
One GT class Porsche moving up in the third hour was the No. 66 TRG entry, driven at the time by Ted Ballou of Corona Del Mar, Cal., who ran as high as third. However, by the end of the fourth hour, the No. 66 car, now piloted by Westbrook, was in fifth, the top Porsche in GT Class.
As the race progressed, Porsches continued to hover around the top five. Germany's Marc Besseng (No. 22 Allegra Motorsports 911 GT 3 Cup) would be the lead Porsche at the end of the fifth hour in sixth place in the GT Class. But in the end, Kevin Roush of Upland, Cal., would win the honors for best Porsche in GT Class, winding up fifth in the No. 27 O'Connell entry.
Ganassi
Ganassi Duo Gives Lexus Fourth '08 Victory At Glen Six Hours
WATKINS GLEN, NY (June 7, 2008) -- Scott Pruett took the lead with 45 minutes remaining and was never headed as he and Memo Rojas drove the #01 Telmex Lexus to 3.033-second victory in today's Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen Rolex Sports Car Series race at Watkins Glen International.
The win is the fourth in six races for the Ganassi/Lexus team and gives both the drivers and the team a 36-point championship lead heading into the midway point of the season at Mid-Ohio. In addition, Lexus continued its domination of endurance racing with its fifth win in the last eight Grand-Am endurance events and now holds a 15-point lead in the manufacturer's championship.
The victory was anything but easy, though. After starting last from the pit lane after Saturday's qualifying session was abbreviated to just four minutes of track time, Pruett and Rojas had to charge through the field almost non-stop until taking the lead for the first time on Lap 115. After pitting and dropping back to fourth on Lap 130, Pruett quickly moved up to second and then finally took the lead for good on Lap 156 of the 179-lap event as he passed former Toyota Formula One driver Ricardo Zonta.
The #3 Southard Motorsports Lexus driven by Shane Lewis and Bill Lester was running in the top-10 early before suffering a split heat exchanger, forcing the team back to the garage area. They eventually returned to the track 12 laps down and would placed 17th.
Notes:
- With today's triumph, Lexus has now won five of the last eight Grand-Am endurance races to go along with two seconds and a pair of fourth-place finishes. In addition to today's victory, the current stretch includes three Rolex 24 at Daytona victories, as well as a nine-hour win at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.
In the Watkins Glen six-hour events, Lexus powered cars have two wins (Scott Pruett/Max Papis in 2004 being the other), a second, a third and a fourth place result. Last year, Pruett and Rojas combined for a second-place finish.
- Today's win is the fourth of the season for the #01 Telmex Lexus and gives the team the best six-race start in Daytona Prototype history. The team has registered six consecutive podium finishes with four wins, a second and a third.
- With the victory today, Scott Pruett has now won 11 endurance races of six hours or longer. He has seven Daytona 24 victories, along with one 24 Hours of Le Mans, one Sebring 12 Hours and, with today's victory, two Six Hours of The Glen triumphs.
- With the first-place today, the #01 Lexus has now finished in the top-10 in every race for the past two years dating back to Mid-Ohio in June, 2006. During that 25-race stretch, the team has eight victories, 17 top-three showings and 21 top-five finishes.
- After coming out on top this afternoon, Lexus has now registered four wins in nine Rolex Series races at Watkins Glen -- with Chip Ganassi Racing also winning the 2004 Sahlen's Six Hours, as well as last year's August event. Doran Racing earned the fourth Lexus win at the track in August 2004.
Memo Rojas, #01 Telmex Lexus: b^0x001cWe focused on what we needed to do -- just stay out of trouble during my stint. We just tried to keep a good pace. Take care of the tires, take care of the car and make sure to hand off a good car to Scott for the finish. The conditions were very hot. I don't know how Scott stayed in the car for almost the last three hours (Pruett raced the final 2:45 in 90+ degree heat)."
Scott Pruett, #01 Telmex Lexus: "The car ran really well. We unloaded the car and immediately it was really good. We didn't have to make many changes this weekend. We just did what we had to do. Even though you call this an endurance race, it was really a six-hour sprint race. There was no time to relax today with all the traffic. It's been a dream start to the season. In no small part, we owe a big piece of it to Lexus. They've really stepped up this year and have worked really hard. Memo has really stepped up as well this year to improve in his second season. It just seems like the team's been figuring it out a little bit quicker. We started from pit lane and still were able to come back and win this race today."
Suntrust
SunTrust Nabs First Podium of the Season
Just 19 Days After Team Transporter Burns to the Ground,
Less than three weeks after their team's transporter and all of its contents burned to the ground, Max Angelelli and Michael Valiante co-drove a race car that hadn't turned a wheel since January, backed by a Wayne Taylor Racing team that used borrowed tools and equipment, and muscled their way to SunTrust Racing's top Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series finish of the season -- a third-place effort at Saturday's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.
It wasn't the victory the team was looking for, but it was by far the most satisfying effort of 2008 for the entire Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) organization, which pressed into service the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley last seen finishing fifth at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 27. On May 19, while traveling home to Indianapolis from the last Rolex Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, Calif., the WTR transporter caught fire in I-40 about an hour east of Amarillo, Texas, and gone was the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Dallara that was just four races old, and every bit of the tools, hardware and equipment that made up the SunTrust Rolex Series road show. But thanks to a generous outpouring of support from the entire Grand-Am community, SunTrust Racing made it to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International without missing a beat.
Angelelli started the weekend Friday in fairy tale fashion by qualifying the SunTrust car on the pole. And he finished it just before the six-hour mark of the race today with a stellar pass of third-place Oswaldo Negri in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford, securing SunTrust Racing's first podium finish since a second-place run at this very track last August. Angelelli's late-race pass was all the more remarkable considering the car's cool suit unit failed to work during his entire 64-lap stint to the finish, forcing him to endure the race's frantic pace for more than two hours inside a cockpit with temperatures well above the 120-degree mark.
"I wanted this for the guys because they deserve so much," said Angelelli when asked how he mustered the energy to make the pass for third with just two laps to go. "When I say they lost everything, I mean they lost everything, including helmets, firesuits, tools. Everything. I have to thank the guys, and also the entire Ganassi team for giving us pit equipment, tools, a transporter, and also to Penske Racing, which gave us so much. If we're here, it's because of our guys, SunTrust, our partners, and those teams that I mentioned."
Angelelli led the opening lap of today's race but gave up the lead on the very next tour of the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit when he dove into the pits under yellow to fulfill Grand-Am's mandated pit stop each team must make by the 45-minute mark of each race. He resumed in ninth, but methodically worked his way back into second place by the 19th lap. From there to the end of the race, Angelelli and Valiante were rarely outside the top-five as teams executed a myriad of pit strategies throughout the afternoon. Valiante drove a 52-lap stint over the middle portion of the race, fighting his way into the lead on laps 84 through 89.
"We really owe it to the team," Valiante said. "We've been going through a rough patch here, especially after the fire. And it was a tough race for six hours. It was hot and it was grueling. The crew did a phenomenal job by putting together the car we ran at the 24-hour in a short amount of time. Everything was flawless. It was definitely hot for Max and I. Max did a great job at the end with his cool suit not working."
"I am speechless," team owner Wayne Taylor said. "They did it. Nineteen days ago, we had nothing. Zero. All we had was a car that had run the 24-hour and was left on the side of the work shop since then. No engine, nothing. It was just lying there. And then we got all these wonderful people, Ganassi, Penske, SunTrust, Toshiba, everybody, with all they did to help us get here. It's been amazing, actually. I so wanted to win this race. But you have to remember that we hadn't run this car since the 24-hour. So we didn't have the latest pieces. This was a leased engine because our other engines burned up in the fire. So, to qualify on the pole and to get on the podium, that's really something. I can't say enough about everybody. They needed this result. The pole was great. And to come into a race like this and have no problems, that's incredible. And Max showed he drives with his heart and he is still the best."