 MEXICO CITY (November 5, 2005) -- In the inaugural trip south of the border for the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series, a large and enthusiastic crowd saw Michael McDowell and Memo Gidley co-drive the No. 19 Finlay Motorsports BMW Riley to victory in La Gran Final de la Serie Rolex Sports Car at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. The first-time Rolex Series winners crossed the finish line ahead of Max Angelelli, who joined teammate Wayne Taylor in clinching the 2005 Daytona Prototype team and driver championships in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley.
Fans were treated to close competition and great racing at Mexico City's famed 2.786-mile, 17-turn circuit, and with five lead changes and no caution periods. "It's awesome to be in Mexico, I just love the people down here," Memo Gidley said.
Coming into the race with a 32-point lead in both the team and driver championship chases, Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor were virtual locks with SunTrust to clinch both titles in Grand American's first ever trip to Mexico. Taylor, who started the race, clinched his share of the driver championship--along with the No. 10 SunTrust team--the moment the green flag dropped.
"We gave everything and we had a good battle with Memo," Luis Diaz said. "The team did a great job, but unfortunately our engine consumed more gasoline than we wanted to and we did that stop that I feel cost us the race. We could have won. Scott did a great job, although he was hurt. I am happy because we did all we could, unfortunately we didn't win."
Scott Pruett--racing with a broken toe he suffered in IROC Series action last weekend--brought the crowd to its feet when he led the first lap and stayed up front for a race-high 39 laps before handing the No. 01 machine over to Luis Diaz. He wanted to say thanks to Hoosier. They gave us a great tire. "I was running just as fast at the end of my run as the beginning, credit to a great product".
GT Class
Putting an exclamation point on a breakout season for the brand-new Pontiac GTO.Rs, Jan Magnussen and Paul Edwards took the GT class victory in their No. 64 TRG Pontiac GTO.R machine in convincing fashion, finishing in time to watch their teammates, the No. 65 TRG Pontiac GTO.R, clinch the 2005 GT team title.
In a pressure-packed, bumper-to-bumper battle for third place, Lally tried everything possible in the No. 65 machine to pass David Murry's No. 80 Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 Cup throughout the race's final 15 laps. The nose-to-tail chase turned into a side-by-side battle on the final lap when Lally and Murry swapped several blows and the lead once. The nearly lap-long skirmish ended in the "stadium" portion of the track with Murry airborne and Lally sideways on the track. Murry continued on to take third place and clinch the GT driver title for his co-driver Craig Stanton.
"This was exactly like last year when I won the Grand-Am Cup championship, and it came down to the last race and the last lap," Stanton said. "I think it was by 150 yards. This one was even closer. David Murry is my hero, he did an unbelievable job. I started out my stint driving the No. 80 car and I drove my heart out. David carried on and he drove as hard as he could against the BMW and GTOs.
Hoosier Racing Tire is proud to be the sole tire supplier for the Grand American Racing Series. For more information about Hoosier Racing Tire and other tires we manufacture please visit us at
www.hoosiertire.com.
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