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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: SDR Corvette Wins Mid-Ohio Thriller
Michael Valiante Takes Two Wins in One Day as Spirit of Daytona Scores Mid-Ohio Victory at Mid-Ohio.
The Spirit of Daytona team is hitting its stride as the Rolex Series championship swings into the second-half of the season. (Photo: GRAND-AM)
One driver made history, and the other made amends as Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook delivered a command performance for Spirit of Daytona to win the EMCO Gears Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday.
While the Ganassi group was racing with heavy hearts after crew member Trevor Montgomery’s mother passed away during the race weekend, Scott Pruett’s drive to second place with Memo Rojas will see the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW-Riley machine emerge from the race weekend with the provisional championship points lead.
Terry Borcheller and David Donohue made their second Rolex Series podium appearance in as many races as the Action Express driver line up change that preceded the Detroit Grand Prix continues to pay dividends for the red, white, and blue squad.
For the second race in a row, both the GAINSCO and SunTrust Racing Corvettes had excellent race-day pace, only to see their chances of victory disappear.
Jon Fogarty led the opening 17 laps before a power steering unit failed on his Corvette, allowing Valiante to pounce and take the lead. The Canadian Super Sub grew his gap over the field until lap 40 when he brought the car in for service and leapt out for Westbrook to take the controls. Alex Popow recovered from contact with a GT machine to then assume the lead from lap 42 to 46 before Westbrook retook the lead as the field cycled through pit stops.
The Briton grew his lead to nearly 10 seconds before a final caution set the stage for a shootout. Pruett was breathing down his back and looked to grow his record GRAND-AM win count. But Westbrook was more than up to the task as he mastered the restart and brought home a win by just .236-seconds over Pruett.
It would be understandable to find out that Valiante was considering buying real estate in the area, as the affable Canadian could consider making the track his home as he opened the day with a big win in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The Rolex Sports Car Series win is his second career triumph in the category, and the former karting phenom is relishing every minute of it.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Valiante. “Having not driven as much last year and now having two very strong rides this year, it’s just awesome. The car was good. I didn’t have the best start. Today we had a car that I could challenge like we did in Detroit. I mean, the team did an awesome job. This is almost too good to be true to win two races in one day. Both teams (HART and Spirit of Daytona) put in a ton of effort and it is great to be a part of big results.”
For his co-driver Westbrook, the day brought some salvation after last week’s Grand Prix, where he stormed to the lead, only to bring too much confidence into the same corner as a GT entry, making race-ending contact as the squad chased a second victory of the year.
“Detroit was heartbreaking for us, so it was important to come here and put it right,” said Westbrook. “We had a good car, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Thanks to Michael for the drive he put in, moving us to the front for me to just bring it home. I knew (Pruett) was going to be coming. He tried to force his way, but he wasn’t in a position to. My hat’s off to the Chevy guys, an outstanding job once again.”
“The win means a bunch,” offered team owner Troy Flis in his SPEED broadcast interview. “We let a couple slip away. Richard, Michael, did just a great job today. Great team, great effort. Chevy, Daytona Prototype is awesome. Great job. I mean, we deserve this and we’re going to keep coming. We’re coming to the front.”
The final caution period was set up as one of GRAND-AM’s most venerable rivalries opened another chapter. Angelelli held second place but Pruett coveted the spot. Heading down the long back stretch, Pruett moved to the inside of the SunTrust car and made his way through. Angelelli moved to defend against a hard-charging Joao Barbosa that was following through and closed the door so hard that it caused race-ending contact for the team for the second race in a row.
“Yeah, he is kind of notorious for using up all the track and so I had a bit of a run on him and he came over and blocked me, but still left a lane up the inside,” said Pruett. “I just continued-he came over and blocked, but there was a lane open and then was onto the brakes, but I still could go deeper. So that is exactly what I did and we had minor contact and I guess all hell broke loose behind me. It’s a good result. We’re just trying to get every point out of every race we can. We certainly, I wouldn’t say have the best package, but we’re trying to get the most out of every race.”
The GT battle also came down to the final laps as Turner Motorsport pilot Bill Auberlen made the most of the life that was still left in his Continental Tires to come home with a victory with co-driver Paul Dalla Lana. With Auberlen driving the closing stages of the race, the Turner BMW M3 held off the advances of Jeff Segal’s Ferrari 458 for the duo’s best finish of the season.
“Grand-Am has come up with these great finishes and I have to tell you, sometimes we are hoping to be looking on someone’s doorstep,” said Dalla Lana. “This time, we were playing for a nice, clean, easy finish and to see the #69 and #57 behind you is always intimidating, but we knew that we had a guy that could carry the torch. We’re always comfortable to have Bill (Auberlen) take it right to the finish line.”
With the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsport entry of Robin Liddell and John Edwards finishing third, the runner-up result saw the AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari growing its lead in the GT Class Team Championship standings.
The previous time that a driver won both the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race and Rolex Sports Car Series race on the same day was the Turner Motorsport squad of Auberlen and Dalla Lana. Having had Valiante encroach on their record, Turner is hoping to do it again soon after recent competition adjustments seem to allow the M3 to show more strength.
“That’s not cool, so we’ll just have to do it again!” said Turner. “ It would have been nice to do a double again if we get the chance. It’s hard to win in Rolex in GT, right? We’re cautiously optimistic that the 50 lbs. helped us because, if you remember back, we won here in that car before. Either Turner Motorsport or Bill Auberlen or a combination does, we like this place. BMW likes Mid-Ohio. So hopefully it’s not an anomaly that we won here today, but the 50 lbs. has got to help something. We’re happy and we’ll see what happens at Road America.”
Results: EMCO Gears Classic
With experience at Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock Park, and several IndyCar teams, Matt Cleary has covered open wheel and sports car racing for over a decade. Working for Sunday Group Management, Cleary also provides strategic motorsports consulting for a range of clients in the sport. You can follow him on Twitter @sundaygroup
While the Ganassi group was racing with heavy hearts after crew member Trevor Montgomery’s mother passed away during the race weekend, Scott Pruett’s drive to second place with Memo Rojas will see the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW-Riley machine emerge from the race weekend with the provisional championship points lead.
Terry Borcheller and David Donohue made their second Rolex Series podium appearance in as many races as the Action Express driver line up change that preceded the Detroit Grand Prix continues to pay dividends for the red, white, and blue squad.
For the second race in a row, both the GAINSCO and SunTrust Racing Corvettes had excellent race-day pace, only to see their chances of victory disappear.
Jon Fogarty led the opening 17 laps before a power steering unit failed on his Corvette, allowing Valiante to pounce and take the lead. The Canadian Super Sub grew his gap over the field until lap 40 when he brought the car in for service and leapt out for Westbrook to take the controls. Alex Popow recovered from contact with a GT machine to then assume the lead from lap 42 to 46 before Westbrook retook the lead as the field cycled through pit stops.
The Briton grew his lead to nearly 10 seconds before a final caution set the stage for a shootout. Pruett was breathing down his back and looked to grow his record GRAND-AM win count. But Westbrook was more than up to the task as he mastered the restart and brought home a win by just .236-seconds over Pruett.
It would be understandable to find out that Valiante was considering buying real estate in the area, as the affable Canadian could consider making the track his home as he opened the day with a big win in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The Rolex Sports Car Series win is his second career triumph in the category, and the former karting phenom is relishing every minute of it.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Valiante. “Having not driven as much last year and now having two very strong rides this year, it’s just awesome. The car was good. I didn’t have the best start. Today we had a car that I could challenge like we did in Detroit. I mean, the team did an awesome job. This is almost too good to be true to win two races in one day. Both teams (HART and Spirit of Daytona) put in a ton of effort and it is great to be a part of big results.”
For his co-driver Westbrook, the day brought some salvation after last week’s Grand Prix, where he stormed to the lead, only to bring too much confidence into the same corner as a GT entry, making race-ending contact as the squad chased a second victory of the year.
“Detroit was heartbreaking for us, so it was important to come here and put it right,” said Westbrook. “We had a good car, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Thanks to Michael for the drive he put in, moving us to the front for me to just bring it home. I knew (Pruett) was going to be coming. He tried to force his way, but he wasn’t in a position to. My hat’s off to the Chevy guys, an outstanding job once again.”
“The win means a bunch,” offered team owner Troy Flis in his SPEED broadcast interview. “We let a couple slip away. Richard, Michael, did just a great job today. Great team, great effort. Chevy, Daytona Prototype is awesome. Great job. I mean, we deserve this and we’re going to keep coming. We’re coming to the front.”
The final caution period was set up as one of GRAND-AM’s most venerable rivalries opened another chapter. Angelelli held second place but Pruett coveted the spot. Heading down the long back stretch, Pruett moved to the inside of the SunTrust car and made his way through. Angelelli moved to defend against a hard-charging Joao Barbosa that was following through and closed the door so hard that it caused race-ending contact for the team for the second race in a row.
“Yeah, he is kind of notorious for using up all the track and so I had a bit of a run on him and he came over and blocked me, but still left a lane up the inside,” said Pruett. “I just continued-he came over and blocked, but there was a lane open and then was onto the brakes, but I still could go deeper. So that is exactly what I did and we had minor contact and I guess all hell broke loose behind me. It’s a good result. We’re just trying to get every point out of every race we can. We certainly, I wouldn’t say have the best package, but we’re trying to get the most out of every race.”
The GT battle also came down to the final laps as Turner Motorsport pilot Bill Auberlen made the most of the life that was still left in his Continental Tires to come home with a victory with co-driver Paul Dalla Lana. With Auberlen driving the closing stages of the race, the Turner BMW M3 held off the advances of Jeff Segal’s Ferrari 458 for the duo’s best finish of the season.
“Grand-Am has come up with these great finishes and I have to tell you, sometimes we are hoping to be looking on someone’s doorstep,” said Dalla Lana. “This time, we were playing for a nice, clean, easy finish and to see the #69 and #57 behind you is always intimidating, but we knew that we had a guy that could carry the torch. We’re always comfortable to have Bill (Auberlen) take it right to the finish line.”
With the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsport entry of Robin Liddell and John Edwards finishing third, the runner-up result saw the AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari growing its lead in the GT Class Team Championship standings.
The previous time that a driver won both the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race and Rolex Sports Car Series race on the same day was the Turner Motorsport squad of Auberlen and Dalla Lana. Having had Valiante encroach on their record, Turner is hoping to do it again soon after recent competition adjustments seem to allow the M3 to show more strength.
“That’s not cool, so we’ll just have to do it again!” said Turner. “ It would have been nice to do a double again if we get the chance. It’s hard to win in Rolex in GT, right? We’re cautiously optimistic that the 50 lbs. helped us because, if you remember back, we won here in that car before. Either Turner Motorsport or Bill Auberlen or a combination does, we like this place. BMW likes Mid-Ohio. So hopefully it’s not an anomaly that we won here today, but the 50 lbs. has got to help something. We’re happy and we’ll see what happens at Road America.”
Results: EMCO Gears Classic
With experience at Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock Park, and several IndyCar teams, Matt Cleary has covered open wheel and sports car racing for over a decade. Working for Sunday Group Management, Cleary also provides strategic motorsports consulting for a range of clients in the sport. You can follow him on Twitter @sundaygroup
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