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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Ganassi Wins Montreal
Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas take dominant win in Montreal 200...
Chip Ganassi Racing took one step closer to the 2012 DP championship with a win at Montreal. (Photo: Brian Cleary/GRAND-AM)
With some strong driving and slick pit work, the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates duo of Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett made an assertive push towards the team’s fifth GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Championship with a convincing victory in Saturday’s Montreal 200.
The win didn’t just provide a boost in the championship standings, as the accomplishment also marked the 150th triumph for the Chip Ganassi Racing organization since Michael Andretti scored a breakthrough win in IndyCar competition in 1994 for Pittsburgh-based driver-turned-owner Chip Ganassi.
The win is Scott Pruett’s 38th career GRAND-AM victory, setting a new Series record for the diversified racer, who has competed full-time in the category since 2004.
“It was quite an honor getting the 150th win for Ganassi and all that he has done on the Indycar side and on the NASCAR side and even on the GRAND-AM Rolex side and I’m proud to be a part of that,” said Pruett. “It’s certainly been a great run. It was a quiet race for us. We haven’t had a car this good all season long. It comes at a really good time for us.
"This series has been a dog fight all season long and it’s been exciting and a little bit nerve wracking for the drivers. It’s good. We were able to manage a victory and we still have Laguna and Lime Rock to go.”
With the 2012 season winding down, the Montreal race was expected to have championship implications in both the DP and GT classes, and didn’t disappoint on either front.
A first-turn fracas saw the No. 9 Action Express Corvette making contact with the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona of Michael Valiante, who saw his chances at a return to victory lane collapse with the thud of Paul Tracy’s No. 5 Corvette making contact after Valiante spun directly into PT’s path.
A lap 8 full course caution for Alex Popow, who had made contact with Michael Shank Racing’s John Pew in the hairpin, set up the first lead change of the day as the Ganassi squad got Rojas out in front of Fogarty for the restart.
Rojas held the point until another round of pit stops saw Starworks elect to take fuel only, and with that call, Ryan Dalziel scored the lead. Pruett took over from Rojas in that pit exchange and by lap 31 had tracked and passed Dalziel for the lead with a pass in the turn 10 hairpin.
He used his fresher Continental Tires to full effect, pulling a gap before the final round of pit stops and then motoring off to a 22.9-second victory.
But it wasn’t Dalziel who was chasing Pruett to the finish. Initially, the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford-Riley of Ozz Negri held second place for over 20 laps late in the race after the team gambled on a fuel strategy that didn’t pay off with a long green flag run to the checkered flag.
As Negri stopped for fuel, Gurney assumed second place after his GAINSCO crew skipped a tire service, leaving the defending race winner to make the most of the Continental Tires all the way to the finish.
The surging No. 5 Corvette of Donohue gave chase as the duo battled it out, going nearly side by side through the final chicane of the race, but Gurney held strong to finish second ahead of Donohue.
The Rolex GT Class saw the pole-winning No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R of John Edwards and Robin Liddell win, overcoming radio problems to withstand a hot and heavy late-race charge from the championship-leading No. 69 Ferrari 458 of Jeff Segal.
Fresh from announcing that the team would be moving up to the Daytona Prototype ranks in 2013, Sahlen’s scored the final spot on the GT podium as Wayne Nonnamaker and Dane Cameron finished third.
Stevenson has four victories at the track, and was happy to be back on top once again.
“It was mentally quite tough we had a big gap in the beginning due to other people making mistakes and getting penalties on the restart,” said Liddell. “That took honestly some of our main competition out of the race. But once again the Stevenson and the Chevrolet Camaros come away with a win here.
"We’ve had such a good record here. But it was mentally very tough with the Ferrari chasing us down there at the end. We really gave it everything we had especially in the last 10 laps we knew the rear tires were going off a bit so when I had a gap I just looked after them as much as I could and saved them for the end. It was pretty nail biting at the end because I knew he was running me down.”
After a seventh place result last week, the Rolex Series championship edged closer, but a stout run from the leading Ferrari saw the group grow their advantage.
“We needed a good recovery from Watkins Glen and a good points day and we definitely got that,” said Segal. “At the end we were in the race there and we were going for the win. I know the Stevenson guys are hungry and this place is sort of their honorary home track with the success that they’ve had.
"Catching him took the entire last stint but that was one thing, passing him was going to be another issue. So it didn’t make sense for me to force the issue there on the last lap. All in all, finishing second is fantastic.”
The win didn’t just provide a boost in the championship standings, as the accomplishment also marked the 150th triumph for the Chip Ganassi Racing organization since Michael Andretti scored a breakthrough win in IndyCar competition in 1994 for Pittsburgh-based driver-turned-owner Chip Ganassi.
The win is Scott Pruett’s 38th career GRAND-AM victory, setting a new Series record for the diversified racer, who has competed full-time in the category since 2004.
“It was quite an honor getting the 150th win for Ganassi and all that he has done on the Indycar side and on the NASCAR side and even on the GRAND-AM Rolex side and I’m proud to be a part of that,” said Pruett. “It’s certainly been a great run. It was a quiet race for us. We haven’t had a car this good all season long. It comes at a really good time for us.
"This series has been a dog fight all season long and it’s been exciting and a little bit nerve wracking for the drivers. It’s good. We were able to manage a victory and we still have Laguna and Lime Rock to go.”
With the 2012 season winding down, the Montreal race was expected to have championship implications in both the DP and GT classes, and didn’t disappoint on either front.
A first-turn fracas saw the No. 9 Action Express Corvette making contact with the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona of Michael Valiante, who saw his chances at a return to victory lane collapse with the thud of Paul Tracy’s No. 5 Corvette making contact after Valiante spun directly into PT’s path.
A lap 8 full course caution for Alex Popow, who had made contact with Michael Shank Racing’s John Pew in the hairpin, set up the first lead change of the day as the Ganassi squad got Rojas out in front of Fogarty for the restart.
Rojas held the point until another round of pit stops saw Starworks elect to take fuel only, and with that call, Ryan Dalziel scored the lead. Pruett took over from Rojas in that pit exchange and by lap 31 had tracked and passed Dalziel for the lead with a pass in the turn 10 hairpin.
He used his fresher Continental Tires to full effect, pulling a gap before the final round of pit stops and then motoring off to a 22.9-second victory.
But it wasn’t Dalziel who was chasing Pruett to the finish. Initially, the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford-Riley of Ozz Negri held second place for over 20 laps late in the race after the team gambled on a fuel strategy that didn’t pay off with a long green flag run to the checkered flag.
As Negri stopped for fuel, Gurney assumed second place after his GAINSCO crew skipped a tire service, leaving the defending race winner to make the most of the Continental Tires all the way to the finish.
The surging No. 5 Corvette of Donohue gave chase as the duo battled it out, going nearly side by side through the final chicane of the race, but Gurney held strong to finish second ahead of Donohue.
The Rolex GT Class saw the pole-winning No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R of John Edwards and Robin Liddell win, overcoming radio problems to withstand a hot and heavy late-race charge from the championship-leading No. 69 Ferrari 458 of Jeff Segal.
Fresh from announcing that the team would be moving up to the Daytona Prototype ranks in 2013, Sahlen’s scored the final spot on the GT podium as Wayne Nonnamaker and Dane Cameron finished third.
Stevenson has four victories at the track, and was happy to be back on top once again.
“It was mentally quite tough we had a big gap in the beginning due to other people making mistakes and getting penalties on the restart,” said Liddell. “That took honestly some of our main competition out of the race. But once again the Stevenson and the Chevrolet Camaros come away with a win here.
"We’ve had such a good record here. But it was mentally very tough with the Ferrari chasing us down there at the end. We really gave it everything we had especially in the last 10 laps we knew the rear tires were going off a bit so when I had a gap I just looked after them as much as I could and saved them for the end. It was pretty nail biting at the end because I knew he was running me down.”
After a seventh place result last week, the Rolex Series championship edged closer, but a stout run from the leading Ferrari saw the group grow their advantage.
“We needed a good recovery from Watkins Glen and a good points day and we definitely got that,” said Segal. “At the end we were in the race there and we were going for the win. I know the Stevenson guys are hungry and this place is sort of their honorary home track with the success that they’ve had.
"Catching him took the entire last stint but that was one thing, passing him was going to be another issue. So it didn’t make sense for me to force the issue there on the last lap. All in all, finishing second is fantastic.”
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