SportsCars

Pruett and Rojas win again

Autoracing1

Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett along with team owner Chip Ganassi, enjoy the victory laurels
Gail Miller/AutoRacing1.com

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas extended their Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 point lead Saturday with their second straight win in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, in the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The duo, who led every practice session leading up to the race only to qualify third, combined to lead 51 laps overall (Pruett 41 of them) in the 99-lap (two-hour and 45-minute event) and are now two-for-two on the young season. Pruett and Rojas were also part of the quartet that won January's Rolex 24 At Daytona.

It also marked Pruett's record-extending 16th Daytona Prototype victory; Rojas now has three.

Defending Grand Prix of Miami co-winner Bill Auberlen, who moved over to the 2006 race-winning team Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team for 2008, finished second with co-driver Joey Hand. The duo also led the race in the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche Crawford before Pruett passed them for the lead.

Rounding out the Daytona Prototype podium were Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, putting three different manufacturers in the top three.

Five Daytona Prototypes led overall and nine Daytona Prototype cars finished on the lead lap.

In GT, the No. 07 Banner Racing Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards won from the pole and overall, the team finished 10th. The two combined to lead 51 circuits, with Edwards leading a class-high 30.

Tim George Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly, in their first sprint race together as co-drivers, finished second in the No. 67 TRG Gleukos/Monster Cable Porsche GT3. It marks the second straight runner-up finish for TRG in the event and second this season after the team's No. 66 took second at Daytona.

Banner Racing also rounded out the podium with a third-place finish. Team owner Leighton Reese and co-driver Jan Magnussen started second-to-last on the grid following an engine change following Friday's qualifying session, but quickly charged through the field and ended up in third.

Nine cautions slowed the race's pace to 82.246 mph.

Results

Pos

Num Class CPos Drivers Team Car Laps Behind
1. 01 DP 1 S.Pruett, M.Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley 99 59:59.999
2. 23 DP 2 B.Auberlen, J.Hand Alex Job Racing Porsche Crawford 99 1:14.551
3. 60 DP 3 O.Negri, M.Patterson Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley 99 59:59.999
4. 91 DP 4 M.Goossens, J.Matthews Bob Stallings/Riley-Matthews Pontiac Riley 99 59:59.999
5. 7 DP 5 M.Plumb, G.Sigal Sigalsport BMW Riley 99 59:59.999
6. 99 DP 6 J.Fogarty, A.Gurney Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley 99 1:14.764
7. 59 DP 7 J.Barbosa, JC.France Brumos Porsche Porsche Riley 99 59:59.999
8. 61 DP 8 B.Frisselle, M.Wilkins AIM Autosport Ford Riley 99 1:15.651
9. 3 DP 9 B.Lester, S.Lewis Southard Motorsports Lexus Riley 99 59:59.999
10. 07 GT 1 K.Collins, P.Edwards Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R 99 59:59.999
11. 67 GT 2 T.George, S.Pumpelly TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 99 59:59.999
12. 06 GT 3 J.Magnussen, L.Reese Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R 99 59:59.999
13. 87 GT 4 D.Farnbacher, D.Werner Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 99 59:59.999
14. 70 GT 5 N.Ham, S.Tremblay SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 99 59:59.999
15. 72 GT 6 L.Aschenbach, T.Lewis Autohaus Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R 99 59:59.999
16. 50 GT 7 D.Empringham, J.Farano Blackforest Motorsports Mustang 99 59:59.999
17. 69 GT 8 E.Assentato, J.Segal SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 99 1:20.629
18. 68 GT 9 B.Sellers, RJ.Valentine TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 99 59:59.999
19. 15 GT 10 J-F.Dumoulin, T.Nastasi Blackforest Motorsports Mustang Cobra GT 99 59:59.999
20. 2 DP 10 R.Dalziel, H.Zogaib SAMAX BMW Riley 98 1:15.100
21. 76 DP 11 N.Jonsson, R.Zonta Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola 98 1:14.877
22. 75 DP 12 T.Krohn, E.van de Poele, R.Moreno Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola 98 1:15.432
23. 21 GT 11 D.Alessi, J.Seyffarth Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac GTO.R 98 59:59.999
24. 86 GT 12 L.Keen, E.Lux Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 98 59:59.999
25. 09 DP 13 M-A.Camirand, G.Cosmo Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote 97 1:16.173
26. 66 GT 13 T.Ballou, B.Miller TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 97 1:22.100
27. 40 GT 14 P.Dempsey, J.Foster Hyper Sport Mazda RX-8 97 1:21.938
28. 29 GT 15 S.Gabel, R.Garcia Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 97 1:22.043
29. 32 GT 16 M.Forest, T.Merrill PR1 Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R 96 59:59.999
30. 10 DP 14 M.Angelelli, M.Valiante SunTrust Racing Pontiac Dallara 96 1:14.763
31. 74 GT 17 A.Lazzaro, J.Safina, D.Skea Safina/Mitchum Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 96 59:59.999
32. 88 GT 18 D.Lacey, P.Long Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 94 1:22.020
33. 26 GT 19 Je.Jacalone, Jo.Jacalone Gotham Competition Porsche GT3 Cup 94 59:59.999
34. 43 GT 20 J.Nonnamaker, Wa.Nonnamaker Team Sahlen Corvette 90 59:59.999
35. 16 DP 15 M.Bobbi, A.Garcia Cheever Racing Pontiac Coyote 89 1:19.758
36. 6 DP 16 I.James, J.Pew Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley 89 1:52.268
37. 77 DP 17 M.Gidley, B.Jaeger Doran Racing Ford Dallara 87 1:20.129
38. 80 GT 21 J.Heylen, S.Johnson Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 Cup 81 59:59.999
39. 9 DP 18 B.Tuttle, D.Smith Tuttle Team Racing Pontiac Riley 80 1:17.209
40. 42 GT 22 Wi.Nonnamaker, J.Sahlen Team Sahlen Corvette 71 9:12.090
41. 55 GT 23 S.Tucker, E.Zabinski Level 5 Motorsports Ferrari 430 Challenge 59 59:59.999
42. 58 DP 19 D.Donohue, D.Law Brumos Porsche Porsche Riley 59 1:14.002
43. 57 GT 24 A.Davis, R.Liddell Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R 56 1:40.155
44. 22 GT 25 C.Stanton, C.de Quesada Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 55 1:25.759
45. 30 GT 26 C.Stone, R.Thorne Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8 44 59:59.999