 Lakeville,
IN (July 17, 2007) - Daytona Prototype championship points leader Scott Pruett
and his points-leading No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
team rewrote the record books Friday in Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve competition, as both became leaders
in overall Rolex Series victories at Iowa Speedway with a narrow triumph at
the 1.3-mile, nine-turn stadium road course. Pruett shared the victory in the
Daytona Prototype feature race with Mexican rookie Memo Rojas.
Pruett, who now owns a record 14 Rolex
Series overall wins, led No. 19 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Z-Line/Mission Residential Lexus Riley teammate Michael Valiante by .325
seconds at the checkered flag for the No. 01 team's second victory of 2007 and
Ganassi's first ever 1-2 finish in the series. It also marked the 15th overall
Rolex Series victory for Ganassi, another series record, and gave Memo Rojas
his first Rolex Series victory after three runner-up finishes earlier this
season.
Rob Finlay posted a career-best starting
position of fifth and kept the car in the top-five much of his stint before
Michael Valiante took over during the first round of pit stops. Michael
Valiante set the race's fastest lap on Lap 173 (41.624 seconds; 112.435 mph)
and quickly shortened a three-second advantage to about six tenths of a second
soon after.
Polesitter Jon Fogarty and co-driver
Alex Gurney in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing GAINSCO Pontiac Riley
had their three-race winning streak snapped after hanging strong all evening.
Fogarty led the first 34 laps before dropping to second, and Gurney ran there
for much of his stint as well.
The Daytona Prototypes return to action next weekend with the Porsche 250 at
Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala (SPEED, 3 p.m. Sunday, July 22).
For more information about the Grand
American Road Racing Series please visit www.grand-am.com
Hoosier Racing Tire is proud to be the sole racing tire provider for both the
Rolex and Koni Challenge racing series.
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