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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
 

Taylor Wins Sixth Straight DP Pole

Grand-Am at Watkins Glen
Friday, August 12, 2011

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Ricky Taylor (top) put the Sun Trust car (above) on pole for the 6th straight time.
In a wild GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series qualifying session Friday evening at Watkins Glen International, one thing remained constant - Ricky Taylor's pole streak.  Taylor captured his sixth consecutive pole position, and will be joined by Memo Rojas on the front row when the green flag waves at 6 p.m. for Saturday's Canadian Tire 200 at The Glen.

In GT qualifying, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Joey Logano posted the fastest lap but crashed moments later - negating his best time and giving the pole to Robin Liddell. Logano later lost a front-row starting position when Marsh Racing elected to withdraw the primary car and go to a backup Corvette following the incident.

After the SunTrust Racing team struggled with handling issues throughout Friday morning's practice, Taylor found the handling of the No. 10 Chevrolet/Dallara to his liking in qualifying, running a lap of 1:05.962 (133.713 mph) to extend a pole streak that began on Memorial Day at Lime Rock Park.

"It was a wild session - like nearly crashing 10 times every lap," Taylor said. "When it was drizzling earlier in day I was saying to the guys I wouldn't be too upset if it started pouring and it started by points, even though that would have put us second."

Championship leader Rojas was second fastest with a lap of 1:06.182 (113.269 mph) in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley. He and Scott Pruett will be seeking their sixth victory of the year on Saturday, Round 10 of the 12-race season.

Jon Fogarty was third fastest in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley co-driven by Alex Gurney running 1:06.307 (133.01 mph). Fogarty holds the Rolex Series record with a seven-race pole position streak, set in 2007.

Robin Liddell
While the 15-minute DP session went smoothly, a pair of black flags for separate incidents limited GT competitors to only two or three laps. Liddell posted his best speed early in the session with a lap of 1:14.179 (118.901 mph) in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro co-driven by Jan Magnussen, and it stood up for the pole.

J.P. Mauro, running in his first Rolex Series race in the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8, crashed near the entrance to the Inner Loop to bring out the first black flag. When the green flag waved with five minutes remaining, Logano went to the top with a lap of 1:14.112 (119.009 mph) in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette co-driven by Boris Said. But when Logano crashed in Turn 5 on the following lap - bringing out a session-ending black flag - his fastest lap was disallowed per GRAND-AM rules. Logano ran a lap of 1:14.541 (118.324 mph), which was second-fastest in the session, but that was negated when the team switched cars.

"My first lap was a wee bit conservative, but it was good enough for the pole at the time," said Liddell, who has two poles this season in addition to two for teammate Magnussen. "I thought I would go faster after the black flag, but I got held up by another car. I took the pole by default, but we'll take it."

As a result of Marsh Racing withdrawing its primary car, GT points leader Andrew Davis will start on the front row after running a lap fo1:14.653 (118.147 mph) in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3 co-driven by Leh Keen.

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