Grand Am - Homestead

Race Report

It wasn’t pretty, but the final results at Miami Homestead show another win for the Ganassi Racing Lexus-Riley, with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas at the wheel, while the Banner Racing Pontiac of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards won the GT class. But, it wasn’t the way that they won – it was the way that the race was run that wasn’t pretty. The race was scheduled to be run to 250 miles, but was shortened to the 2 hour 45 minute time format due to the length of the nine cautions periods during the race. When the race ended, 40 of the eventual race distance of 99 laps were run under caution. A full 18 of those caution laps were of the “debris on track” nature. Even more telling is the fact that 19 cars actually finished on the lead lap, and thanks to the way the caution periods are now handled, 10 of those cars finishing on the lead lap were GT cars. For those who thought Daytona was disjointed and difficult to watch, bingo, we have a new winner.

But, how the race was run has no bearing on the actual results and the points that are taken away from the event. In this case it was the Ganassi duo that were able to extend their points lead to 13, after winning consecutive races to start 2008. They led 51 of the 99 laps run, on the way to a 1.6 second win. According to Pruett, “everything was good today. Our strategy was good. We could run inside, outside – high, low, really anywhere on the track. This was truly one of the best cars I’ve ever had. I have to give a special thanks to Lexus and TRD. The engine was phenomenal. They’ve worked hard to improve our drive-ability since Daytona – and in all the races we’ve won, I think this might have been our best Lexus engine ever.”

Lexus was given a somewhat controversial break in regulations heading into the last race of the season at Utah in 2007, and the engineers have continued to build upon that, building what - from the looks of on-course activity - may be the strongest motor on track in the series.

Finishing second overall was the Alex Job Porsche-Crawford. The set up of the car was never really to the liking of the drivers, Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, but the team was able to lead 14 laps in the second half of the race before relying on cautions to conserve fuel. For Alex Job, the finish was a step in the right direction for the team. "I am really excited about our close second place finish today," said the team boss. "In the end, we just didn't have enough for the 01 car. The cautions helped us. We were hanging onto the car because we had pretty old tires on the car. We also cut the fuel real close - kind of like Laguna last year. But, the strategy worked out great. The two drivers did a great job. Billy started and Joey finished. And, at the end, Joey did everything he could possibly do. Quite frankly, I don't know how he went as quick as he did with the car the way it was at that time. It just shows his talent.”

"Our car was good enough today," Hand added. "When we got here, we were in the dumps. We were not good. But, the Ruby Tuesday crew worked and worked to find some stuff. When it looked like we should have pack up, they persevered. And today, we had the best race car that we had all weekend. On the short runs, we were good. My only shot at finishing well was, listening to Bill tell me on the radio to make short three laps spurts out of it the race - like I was trying to qualify the car for three laps. This helped me break away so I did not have to dice it up with those guys back there because they were fast. It was a complete team effort by the Ruby Tuesday team."

Rounding out the top three was the Michael Shank Racing Ford-Riley. “Oz” Negri said, “Michael Shank Racing has been working so hard all winter, and this podium is for them. My engineer Dave Kanning made a great call to just take two tires in that last pit stop and that put us where we needed to be with track position. I think if there had been fewer yellows at the end, we could have had the opportunity to do even better. But this is still a great finish for the team and really helps in the championship. Now we are heading to one of my favorite places, so I can’t wait to go race in Mexico City soon.”

Marc Goossens brought the Matthews Riley through into fourth place to be the top finishing Pontiac runner. “The race was good,” Goosens said. “We may have put in a little too much downforce. We were very good in the infield and then gave up too much on the banking. We put the downforce in this morning, maybe we should have kept what we had in qualifying. I was trying to get on the podium and had a run on the 60 car on the last lap, but he came over to defend his position, like any good driver would and I couldn’t get by him.”

The Rum Bum sponsored Sigalsport BMW Riley came through for fifth after a very strong run. In front of over 600 guests at the Gainsco sponsored event, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty had to be satisfied with finishing sixth in the Gainsco-Stallings Pontiac Riley.

Running in the top five for awhile was the Southard Motorsports Lexus Riley of Shane Lewis and Bill Lester. While the ninth place finish was not what the team had hoped for, after running higher, it was still a good result for Shane. "I am happy. We qualified and finished in the top-10 competing against some of the best teams in sports car racing. Steve and Martha have always been committed but they really stepped it up again this season putting me in with another pro driver, doing the new bodywork and a lot more. I think it is starting to show and starting to pay off. Our next goal is the top-five and then to get back on the podium and stay there. This was a really encouraging race for us and I'm looking forward to Mexico City."

Eight of the top nine finishers in the DP class were running Riley chassis, but the race also saw the debut of the Dallara and Lola chassis. While the on-track performance was promising, the final results were indicative of the potential of these new cars.

The Suntrust team debuted their Dallara in good style, qualifying on the front row and actually leading early. Unfortunately, they were hit from behind by a spinning David Donahue in his Brumos Riley and lost four laps in making repairs to the rear suspension. "The car was great, especially in the first stint, there," said Michael Valiante, who led 20 laps in all. "We were having some brake issues and I was really struggling toward the end of that last stint, which let the 99 car get ahead of us. Then, out of nowhere, I was hit from behind by the 58 car and it took us both out."

The team did the necessary repairs to get the car back out on track, where they finished 14th in class, earning what could be valuable points somewhere down the road.

The Krohn Racing Lolas finished 11th (#76 Jonsson/Zonta) and 12th (#75 Krohn/van de Poele). Heading into the race, the team knew that this wouldn’t be the best track for the car to shine at but were confident that they are heading in the right direction. Jonsson had the #76 running as high as second overall, but a series of pit penalties dropped them out of contention, while lack of radio and entering the pits at the wrong time cost the #75 a lap.

Jonsson - “We have been struggling all week with the set-up on the car. We really spent a lot of time trying to get the car right. We spent hours last night - I think Dave (Brown), Ricardo and I left the track at 10:00 p.m. last night. We came up with a plan and I think we had really improved the car for the race. David did an awesome job with the car this week as always. We had a podium today, I think. The car was not on the pace of the 01 car, but I think we could have easily been second or third. We way outpaced the 23 car that finished second today during the race. Unfortunately, we had a little mishap during a pit stop. We can’t really do those things when you’re trying to win the championship because on days like today – when you don’t have a car to win – you need to score points to be in the championship. We really threw a podium away today. You have to get back home and look at the video and see where we messed up and have to improve that. Hopefully we can have a very good race in Mexico and come back and win down there.”

For this race, the team was suffering with too much downforce, which they attempted to dial out. But that same abundance of downforce will, in the team's opinion, really suit their car at other tracks later in the season and they are looking forward to that.

The GT class saw the Pontiac runners bounce back in a strong way, with Banner taking the top spot as well as third in class. For Collins and Edwards, it was a win from pole and the pair led 52 laps en route to the victory.

“I was able to get really good restarts,” Edwards said. “With the yellows we could cool the tires and then they would be good for a couple of laps before they went away a little. This allowed me to keep the gap to the guys behind. We haven’t been very good at this track in the past, so the win is a great effort. On Thursday, Chuck [Houghton, team engineer] made some big changes to the suspension. The changes really freed up the car and that helped Kelly to get the pole. The move was pretty daring, right before qualifying, but it worked out. The tires stayed under us the whole race and the car was really good throughout the stint. It is a nice win for the team after a tough Rolex 24.”

Second in GT was the #67 TRG Porsche with Spencer Pumpelly and Tim George Jr. driving. They never led during the race but drove a clean and consistent race to finish second and take over the class points lead.

"The race was tough because the depth of talent was really incredible," Pumpelly said. "This year in GT, it's going to be really tough. Fortunately, Tim George did an awesome job in his first stint. The TRG guys gave both of us a really good car. We worked on it a lot last week in the shop and worked on it all week here. The effort that went into it was phenomenal. At the end, I really wanted to win because I thought on the restart we were fast enough, but they'd get up to speed and up to temp,and I really don't think we had much for them.

The third place finish of the Jan Magnussen/Leighton Reese Banner car highlighted a drive from the back of the pack and saw Mags lead a total of 14 laps.

Farnbacher-Loles was able to persevere for a fourth place finish in the Porsche, but it could have been so much more. Dominik Farnbacher started third and 40 minutes into the race was leading, a place he held for 21 laps. Unfortunately, when pitting to hand over to Dirk Werner, an air jack malfunction cost them precious time and track position, dropping them back to seventh in class.

Werner:"When I got in the car, we lost time and we went from first to seventh. It was very difficult then to overtake because we didn't have anything on the straights for the other cars and our engine temperature went high if we followed somebody. I was right behind the first three at the end of the race, and I could go the pace, but I had nothing to overtake them. I'm not really satisfied, but fourth place is better than nothing. Perhaps road tracks without ovals are better for us."

The Stevenson Automotive Pontiac had a strong run early, which saw Andrew Davis lead a lap, but their race ended early with a reported powersteering failure.

The series continues, with the third round scheduled to take place in Mexico City on April 19th. Lets hope the ratio between green and yellow is more green this time.

Gary Horrocks