In what turned out to be the last running of a qualifying race, at Phoenix on Friday evening, Scott Pruett finished second in the Chip Ganassi Riley Lexus, behind Adrian Fernandez’s similar chassis (but Pontiac powered). Pruett and Luis Diaz went one better on Saturday evening, coming home first in the combined DP-GT race – which was delayed by just three full course cautions. It was a surprisingly confrontation-free race.
After two poor races, Mike Rockenfeller and Patrick Long, neither of whom were present for the qualifying race (in which they scored points for 19th place), finished 20th, and drop from the behind (former leader) Jorg Bergmeister down to joint ninth in the standings. 1 Scott Pruett
/ Luis Diaz 263 Second at Phoenix were Alex Figge and Ryan Dalziel, scoring a best-ever result for Pacific Coast Motorsports. Third were Shane Lewis and Craig Stanton in the Southard Riley BMW, with Jan Magnussen stamping his class all over the opening period of the race to help Max Angelelli home to fourth – after a late delay, while leading. Rock-apery involving Fernandez and McDowell in the late stages dropped them from second and third to fifth and sixth, just ahead of former points leader Jorg Bergmeister. At least one of the Alex Job / Ruby Tuesday pair had a win at the weekend – Rockenfeller in the ALMS race at Houston on Friday evening. Marcel Tiemann subbed for the Crawford Porsche pair, but dramas accounted for this entry (and others) on Friday and Saturday evening. On lap ten of the last qualifying race, the #60 Riley of Oswaldo Negri made contact with the #39 Cheever Racing Crawford of Christian Fittipaldi. The #39 Crawford spun in front of the field, resulting in a pile-up involving six cars. Also involved were the #4 Crawford, the #23 Alex Job Racing Crawford, the #58 Fabcar and the #40 Derhaag Motorsports Riley. Negri was penalized one minute, and barred from competing in the main race on Saturday. Peter MacLeod took his place. The best that any of the cars involved could manage 24 hours later was tenth – so perhaps the qualifying races won’t be missed at all. “The accident in the qualifying race was absurd,” commented Andy Wallace. “The #39 car got turned right in front of us. I had nowhere to go, and neither did anyone else. There were many good cars damaged as a result. But our BOSS Snowplow team worked overtime to get our Pontiac Crawford back in race form. They did a fantastic job working long hours in this heat. It was a tough weekend, but we’ll continue to work hard and look forward to Watkins Glen.” Butch Leitzinger had heavy contact with a GT Corvette in the main race, dropping the #4 Crawford to 15th at the flag. “Marcel (Tiemann) was caught up in a wreck that really was none of his doing,” commented Alex Job – of Friday night’s adventures under the lights. “We have a long night ahead of us, but the team will make the repairs and we will be ready for the race tomorrow night. I don’t think that Mike and Patrick will need any special motivation to get us back to the front.” “We were fifth when I pitted the car just 35-minutes into the (main) race,” said Mike Rockenfeller – up from 19th on the grid. “The car was good and I could pretty much drive it anywhere on the track. We had the speed to win today, but not the fortune. We have had two difficult races in a row and have fallen back in the championship.” The lack of good fortune referred to the alternator failure that dropped the #23 car well down. So Pruett took the flag first, having claimed the lead on lap 95, as Max Angelelli, first out of the pits as all the leaders raced out of pitlane on the previous lap, had to return with his r/front wheel not attached correctly. Pruett went on to record a nine second victory over Ryan Dalziel in the #89 Pacific Coast Riley – despite a penalty for passing under caution. Scott Pruett has won a record ten DP races now. “I would like to thank Grand Am for making the early decision to split the two classes for restarts,” said Pruett. “I believe this helped increase the level of racing action throughout the race and lowered the numbers of yellows." Before the green is shown, the order is juggled so that all the DPs are ahead of the GTs on the track. The rest of the field was a lap or more behind this select group. The victory by Edwards and Collins marks the 12th consecutive Rolex Series race that at least one TRG Pontiac GTO.R finished on the GT class podium. “We just couldn’t match our Pontiac rivals on this track,” confirmed Robin Liddell. “The Tafel team’s strategy was good, the Porsche never missed a beat while both Wolf [Henzler] and I drove as hard as we good but we came up short on this occasion – we simply were not fast enough.” GT Points The GTs are at Lime Rock on May 29, both classes at Watkins Glen on June 3.
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The
two GT races ended up as Pontiac 1-2 (in the qualifying race) and
Pontiac 1-2-3, with Boris Said leading the charge on Friday, in
his first race in the Pacific Coast GTO.R. The newcomer finished
third in the main race, as Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards led home
the three V8s, with the best-placed Porsche that of Robin Liddell
and Wolf Henzler.Contents Copyright © dailysportscar.com. All Rights Reserved. |