Ganassi adds to stellar season with Grand-Am title

Chip Ganassi has a lot to smile about this year

TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates clinched the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Team Championship with their eighth win of the 2010 season in Montreal at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last Saturday. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas led 35 of 62 laps to pick up the team’s fourth Championship in seven seasons in the Rolex Series. Pruett and Rojas can clinch the Driver Championship by spending at least 30 minutes in the car at the final race in Salt Lake City on September 11th.

In addition, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. celebrated yet another historic landmark in 2010 by breaking the team’s record for wins in a single season with 15. Saturday’s win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Rolex Series marked the 15th win in 2010, besting the previous record of 14 set in 2009. The team quickly added win number 16 to the season tally with Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Dario Franchitti’s IZOD IndyCar Series win at Chicagoland Speedway later that same night.

Pruett and Rojas once again helped Ganassi add to the team record books, after supplying TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates wins at Homestead, Barber, VIR, Watkins Glen twice, Mid-Ohio and Daytona earlier this season.

Earlier this month, Ganassi claimed three victories in one weekend in all three of the major touring series (NASCAR, IndyCar and GRAND-AM) his teams compete in. Pruett and Memo Rojas won the Rolex GRAND-AM Series event at Watkins Glen, Juan Pablo Montoya picked up a NSCS victory at Watkins Glen, and Franchitti completed the hat-trick with an IZOD IndyCar Series win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Ganassi also made history this year by becoming the first owner to win what has become known as the American Racing Triple Crown. Ganassi’s NASCAR team picked up wins in the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 with Jamie McMurray, and the Indianapolis 500 with Franchitti. In Addition, Ganassi became the first owner to win both of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s marquee events, the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, however Ganassi pulled off an even more difficult feat by winning both in the same year.