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GRAND-AM

Point Standings
GRAND-AM DP
After Watkins Glen

Rank Driver Points
1 Memo Rojas 228
Scott Pruett 228
3 Max Angelelli 204
Ricky Taylor 204
5 JC France 188
Joao Barbosa 188
Terry Borcheller 188
8 Darren Law 187
David Donohue 187
10 Alex Gurney 185
Jon Fogarty 185
12 John Pew 179
Ozz Negri 179
14 Brian Frisselle 151
Henri Richard 151
16 Antonio Garcia 148
Paul Edwards 148
18 Burt Frisselle 146
19 Mike Forest 123
20 Mark Wilkins 121
21 Alex Popow 110
Enzo Potolicchio 110
23 Ryan Dalziel 93
24 Mark Blundell 53
25 Michael Valiante 46
26 Matt Bell 41
27 Graham Rahal 35
Joey Hand 35
29 Dario Franchitti 32
Jamie McMurray 32
Juan Pablo Montoya 32
Scott Dixon 32
33 Christian Fittipaldi 30
Max Papis 30
35 Mark Patterson 28
Martin Brundle 28
Zak Brown 28
38 Ryan Briscoe 26
Wayne Taylor 26
40 Nic Jonsson 25
Nicolas Minassian 25
Ricardo Zonta 25
Tracy Krohn 25
44 AJ Allmendinger 24
Justin Wilson 24
Michael McDowell 24
47 Christophe Bouchut 23
Luis Diaz 23
Scott Tucker 23
50 Buddy Rice 22
51 Henry Gilbert 21
Marc Goossens 21
Shane Lewis 21
54 Raphael Matos 20
Richard Westbrook 20
Ryan Hunter-Reay 20
57 Jimmie Johnson 19
58 Johannes van Overbeek 18
Jorg Bergmeister 18
Patrick Long 18
Seth Neiman 18
62 Sascha Maassen 17
63 Colin Braun 16
Doug Peterson 16
Jan Heylen 16
Jared Beyer 16
Jim Lowe 16
RJ Valentine 16
Romain Iannetta 16
Ross Kaiser 16
Scott Mayer 16
Tomas Enge 16
 

Pruett, Rojas win at VIR

GRAND-AM
Saturday, April 24, 2010

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Winners Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas clown around for the camera
DANVILLE, Va. - Scott Pruett survived a pair of late-race restarts and a strong challenge by Burt Frisselle to win Saturday's Bosch Engineering 250 before a record crowd at Virginia International Raceway.

The victory gave the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley started by Memo Rojas its third consecutive GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented  by Crown Royal  Cask No. 16.

Andy Lally, making his 100th career start, had contact with Bill Auberlen with two laps remaining but held on to win in GT, driving TRG's No. 66 AXA Porsche GT3 started by Ted Ballou.

Winners Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas
Pruett and Rojas led all but nine of the 84 laps in the two-hour, 45-minute event. Entering the final half hour, though, Pruett brushed a GT car and half of his rear spoiler began flapping. It finally broke off on Lap 73, bringing out the second caution of the event. Several Daytona Prototypes tangled on the Lap 77 restart, including the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Riley of Alex Gurney, the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Cayenne of Joao Barbosa and the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote of Antonio Garcia, bringing out the final caution.

Action resumed for a five-lap dash to the checkered flag, with Pruett holding off Frisselle by .293 seconds. Frisselle matched his career-best finish, sharing the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley with Mark Wilkins.

"It was sideways everywhere, because we lost a lot of downforce," said Pruett after scoring his 26th career victory - 25 of them in a Ganassi Daytona Prototype. "The only advantage was straight-line speed, so I knew if I could get off the turns well, I'd be very difficult to pass - because the straightaways are the best place to pass here."

Rojas started from the pole and led the opening 22 circuits before pitting under the green flag near the 45-minute mark, turning the car over to Pruett.

"The balance of the car changed from qualifying to the race and the car became pretty loose," Rojas said. "It made it more difficult to drive, but it was still fast. In the end, that's all that matters."

It was Wilkins' best finish since 2008, when he and Brian Frisselle won two races. Burt Frisselle - Brian's older brother - had two podium finishes in 2004, including a second at Watkins Glen International.

"Scott obviously had a winning car," Burt Frisselle said. "There were places on the track where you could definitely make up time on him, but he really pushed hard - he did a heck of a job."

Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor finished third in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara. It marked Taylor's first career podium finish.

Darren Law and David Donohue finished fourth in the No. 59 Brumos Porsche Riley, followed by Jon Fogarty and Gurney. Ryan Dalziel teamed with Mike Forest to finish sixth in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW Riley.

After four races, Pruett and Rojas hold 21-point lead over Dalziel in the Daytona Prototype standings (137-116).

Lally made his move on a call by TRG team owner Kevin Buckler to stay out with the No. 66 AXA Porsche GT3 after the second caution flag waved, moving from seventh position to take second. He took the lead shortly after the restart and led the final 25 circuits. It was Lally's 21st career victory and first for Ballou.

Bill Auberlen, who took over from Paul Dalla Lana in the No. 94 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 at the 45 minute mark, pressured Lally down the stretch. The two ran side-by-side with two laps remaining before making contact. Auberlen spun through the grass, and recovered to finish eighth.

Lally then held off Jeff Segal by .712 seconds, ending the two-race winning streak of Segal and Emil Assentato in the SpeedSource No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8.

"Kevin made a great call," Lally said. "We stayed out under the second to get the wave by, then the pit crew had a lightning stop that got us out in front of the pace car. Bill was coming up on us a second a lap. We raced as clean as we could. I just held my ground - I wasn't going to give more than an inch. To celebrate my 100th race with a win was monumental."

Segal's crew made a similar call after the team had been struggling throughout the weekend and running 10th.

Paul Edwards and Scott Russell finished third in the No. 07 Airjax.com Corvette after running in or near the top three throughout the race. It was the first podium finish for Russell, a world superbike champion and five-time winner of America's leading motorcycle race - the Daytona 200 By Honda - before moving to four-wheeled competition.

The two cars to beat in GT were the No. 30 IDEMITSU/3Dimensional.com Mazda RX-8 of Jordan Taylor and Todd Lamb, and the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 of Jonathan Bomarito and Sylvain Tremblay. Taylor won the pole and led the opening 21 circuits, with Lamb talking over and leading 29 laps. Both teams opted to return to their starting drivers on their second pit stop, but Taylor and Bomarito were caught back in the pack and were unable to get back into contention. They finished sixth and ninth, respectively.

John Potter and Craig Stanton finished fourth in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3, followed by James Gue and Leh Keen in the No. 41 Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Mazda RX-8.

The second-place finish, on the heels of victories at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Barber Motorsports Park, gives Segal  and Assentato a three-point lead in the GT championship (118-115), with seventh-place finishers Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro another three points back.

The next Rolex Series race will be on Monday, May 31, at Lime Rock Park. It will be the first appearance by the Daytona Prototypes at the scenic Lakeville, Conn., circuit. Several teams will compete in a test at the track on Tuesday, April 27.

Results

Pos

No. Class Pic Drivers Team/Car Laps (#)
1 01 DP 1 Pruett / Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates / BMW Riley 84 64
2 61 DP 2 Frisselle / Wilkins AIM Autosport / Ford Riley 84 62
3 10 DP 3 Angelelli / Taylor SunTrust Racing / Ford Dallara 84 63
4 59 DP 4 Donohue / Law Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 84 63
5 99 DP 5 Fogarty / Gurney GAINSCO/ Bob Stallings Racing / Chevrolet Riley 84 63
6 8 DP 6 Dalziel / Forest Starworks Motorsport / BMW Riley 84 64
7 6 DP 7 Frisselle / Valiante Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 84 63
8 77 DP 8 Gidley / von Moltke Doran Racing / Ford Dallara 84 61
9 7 DP 9 Hand / Lester Starworks Motorsport / BMW Riley 84 62
10 90 DP 10 Garcia / Rice Spirit of Daytona Racing / Porsche Coyote 84 44
11 75 DP 11 Jonsson / Krohn Krohn Racing / Ford Lola 83 62
12 66 GT 1 Ballou / Lally TRG / Porsche GT3 80 77
13 69 GT 2 Assentato / Segal SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 80 77
14 07 GT 3 Edwards / Russell Banner Racing / Corvette 80 56
15 44 GT 4 Potter / Stanton Magnus Racing / Porsche GT3 80 31
16 41 GT 5 Gue / Keen Dempsey Racing / Mazda RX-8 80 56
17 30 GT 6 Lamb / Taylor Racers Edge Motorsports / Mazda RX-8 80 4
18 57 GT 7 Davis / Liddell Stevenson Motorsports / Camaro GT.R 80 57
19 94 GT 8 Auberlen / Dalla Lana / Hand Turner Motorsport / BMW M6 80 63
20 70 GT 9 Bomarito / Tremblay SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 80 57
21 97 GT 10 Pumpelly / Schaldach Stevenson Motorsports / Camaro GT.R 80 78
22 68 GT 11 Christodoulou / Edwards SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 80 25
23 40 GT 12 Dempsey / Espenlaub / Foster Dempsey Racing / Mazda RX-8 79 77
24 43 GT 13 Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker Team Sahlen / Mazda RX-8 79 33
25 46 GT 14 Lewis / Pilgrim Autohaus Motorsports / Camaro GT.R 78 54
26 56 GT 15 Bennett IV / Skeen Bennett Racing / Ferrari 430 Challenge 77 46
27 9 DP 12 Barbosa / Borcheller / France Action Express Racing / Porsche Riley 76 64
28 42 GT 16 Nonnamaker / Sahlen Team Sahlen / Mazda RX-8 76 76
29 28 GT 17 Collins / Lux LG Motorsports / Corvette 76 55
30 81 GT 18 Huisman / Murry Synergy Racing, Inc. / Porsche GT3 58 38
31 31 GT 19 Curran / Whelen Marsh Racing / Corvette 43 27
32 60 DP 13 Negri / Pew Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 40 26

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