Mid-Ohio Grand-Am race recap

Posted on June 20th, 2010 by Stephen Rhodes in Grand-Am Road Racing - News/Rumors - Race Results

Pruett, Rojas collect fifth Grand-Am win

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(June 19, 2010)

LEXINGTON, Ohio—Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas extended their dominance of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series season on Saturday, winning the EMCO Gears Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, their fifth victory in seven 2010 races.

Rojas started from the pole in the No. 01 BMW/Riley and led twice for 26 laps in the early going, while Pruett paced the final 38 of 107 circuits in the two-hour, 45-minute race. The Chip Ganassi Racing duo also increased their lead in the Daytona Prototype championship to 32 points with five races remaining.

Ozz Negri and John Pew were second in the No. 60 Ford/Riley, 2.991 seconds behind, holding off third-place finishers Mark Wilkins and Burt Frisselle in the No. 61 Ford/Riley at the finish.

Michael Valiante and Brian Frisselle finished fourth in the No. 6 Ford/Dallara. It was the duo’s first race in that car after the team’s Riley was destroyed in a fire in the most recent Rolex Series race at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen combined to give the No. 94 BMW M6 its first victory in the production-based GT class, after missing the Watkins Glen event due to a crash in practice. It marked the first time in Rolex Series history that BMWs won both classes in the same event.

The next Rolex Series race will be the Brumos Porsche 250 on July 3 at Daytona International Speedway. That will be the 100th race in the history of the Daytona Prototype class.

Final results from Saturday’s GRANDAM Rolex Sports Car Series EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with drivers’ starting position in parenthesis, drivers, car and laps completed.

1. (1) Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas, BMW Riley, 107

2. (10) John Pew/Ozz Negri, Ford Riley, 107

3. (3) Burt Frisselle/Mark Wilkins, Ford Riley, 107

4. (5) Michael Valiante/Brian Frisselle, Ford Dallara, 107

5. (6) Antonio Garcia/Buddy Rice, Porsche Coyote, 107

6. (4) Jon Fogarty/Alex Gurney, Chevrolet Riley, 107

7. (7) Memo Gidley/Dion von Moltke, Ford Dallara, 107

8. (8) Darren Law/David Donohue, Porsche Riley, 107

9. (2) Max Angelelli/Ricky Taylor, Ford Dallara, 107

10. (11) Terry Borcheller/Joao Barbosa, Porsche Riley, 106

11. (13) Bill Lester/Nelson Philippe, BMW Riley, 105

12. (15) Bill Auberlen/Joey Hand, BMW M6, 104