GRAND-AM: SunTrust Goes Back-To-Back With New Jersey Win

GRAND-AM

GRAND-AM: SunTrust Goes Back-To-Back With New Jersey Win

Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor earn the SunTrust Corvette team its second straight race win, while Emil Assentato and Jeff Segal take GT.

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series | http://www.grand-am.com/ | Posted May 13, 2012

If there were any questions about rain-shortened victories by No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP co-drivers Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor and No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari 458 teammates Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato last time out at Homestead-Miami Speedway two weeks ago, the drivers and teams left no doubt on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Angelelli and Taylor picked up their second consecutive GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype victory in the Global Barter 250 presented by Susan G. Komen For The Cure and SunTrust Racing’s 20th overall win the Rolex Series, while Segal and Assentato claimed a repeat GT-class victory.

The No. 10 Corvette DP was one of the strongest cars throughout the weekend, as evidenced by the fact that Taylor put the car on the pole position in qualifying on Saturday, and he and Angelelli combined to lead a race-high 91 of the 117 laps in the race. Angelelli took the lead for good with about 12 laps remaining and won by 4.998 seconds ahead of Ryan Dalziel.

“You really had to be very aggressive, so Max just did a really good job,” Taylor said. “I lost the lead at one point, but the SunTrust team just put us right back in the lead. It was a really good day.”

DP points co-leaders Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio retained their position atop the standings with a second-place run in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley. They now lead Taylor and Angelelli by four points, 117-113, with one third of the season now in the books.

No. 60 LiveOn Ford/Riley co-drivers Ozz Negri and John Pew finished third for their first podium since their victory in the 2012 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona and are just one point behind Angelelli and Taylor in the championship.

At almost the exact time that Angelelli made his decisive pass on Dalziel in DP, Segal made his way past Dane Cameron’s No. 42 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 to take the GT class lead. Once he got clear of Cameron, Segal – a Philadelphia native now living in South Florida – pulled away from the field to record his second straight “hometown” victory.

“Miami was a different win than today,” Assentato said. “Today was a hard-earned win; in Miami we got lucky with the rain. This was a tough battle from the very start.”

Segal and Assentato entered the race as the GT points leaders and the 2010 Rolex Series GT champions, extended their lead to eight points, 125-117, over Andy Lally and John Potter.

Lally and Potter finished third in the Global Barter 250 in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3, right behind second-place GT finishers Robin Liddell and polesitter John Edwards in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R.

RESULTS: Global Barter 250