Grand-Am – Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen – Race Report
Dominant Gainsco

The dominant team certainly dominated this one, but not without a drama along the way. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty led 91 laps of the 167, Gurney passing Scott Pruett on lap 153, and leading home the #01 car by seven seconds at the flag.

There were nine full course cautions, for 48 laps (something well over two hours of the six?), and they began right at the start, on the opening lap. All the cautions meant that a remarkable 14 cars finished on the lead lap: not so much endurance racing as lots of little sprints.

But Gurney and Fogarty were the quick men all weekend, and they duly became the first drivers to win two races this season. They’ve started every race from the front row.

In GT, it was a second win for Andy Lally and TRG, ahead of the Werner / Miller / Stanton Farnbacher Loles Porsche, the pole-sitting Pontiac finishing third.

Oddly enough, it was Pat Long and Scott Pruett who caused the first caution, on lap 1, at Turn 4 – in separate incidents. Several cars made their pre-45 minute stop under the first caution.

Lap 4 and they were racing again, Gurney easing away from Bill Auberlen in the #05 Riley BMW – and that set the pattern for the race. The #99 led all the way to lap 35 (through two more cautions, plus that mandatory stop for #99) – at which point the leader left the track, picked up some grass and dirt in the radiator, pitted, and resumed with no real harm done. Almost a lap down though.

But current form for Gurney and Fogarty meant that they could claw their way back, even leading again after the fourth caution, Fogarty again out front from lap 92 to 125.

Gurney led again on lap 140 after passing Ian James in the #6 Playboy Riley Lexus (“The Corvette ran me into the dirt and I lost all my momentum, so I was pretty much a sitting duck for the 99 car,” said James. “But it was great to be up front and controlling the race today. This car was excellent on the long runs and our only weakness was how the car was on new tires, so it’s a shame we didn’t get more laps under green today."), but Gurney pitted during the ninth and last caution, Pruett leading at this point. Gurney challenged Pruett immediately after the green flag dropped, and passed for the final time going into Turn 1, leading for the last 15 laps.

“I have to give (engineer) Kyle Brannan a huge compliment because it's thanks to him that we put together a car that was this fast and this comfortable to drive,” said the tall race winner.

Pruett and Rojas finished second despite being two laps down at the start: “The car was good,” said Pruett. “I thought we had the second best car out there. We ran well all day long, and we got everything we could out of the car. There is no question you have to finish well to get the championship. We did that today.”

Pruett leads Angelelli in the points (183-170).

Jonathan Cochet finished third on his return to the series, but it might have been an even better result for the SunTrust car, but for two re-start violations for Max Angelelli.

“I felt like we could have definitely won the race or come closer,” said the Italian. “They (the first two home) had great cars today, too. But we were right there with them, even with the penalties. It’s very frustrating, to say the least.”

An excellent fourth were Ian James and John Pew in the #6 Riley, ahead of Nic Jonsson and Tracy Krohn, who had problems restarting their Pontiac engine at pit stops (and even at the start). Also Le Mans-bound Tomas Enge dropped out very early in the SAMAX Riely, after engine trouble - so the Czech didn't get much driving in to toughen up that arm. The Jim Matthews Riley was sixth, while moving up right at the end was the AJR Crawford, Bergmeister and Long finally finishing eighth, and first non-Riley. The lone Doran was tenth, the Cheever Fabcar eighteenth.

The right crowd and no crowding?

Spencer Pumpelly joined the Lally / Valentine crew to take a second win for this TRG entry this season, Lally passing Richard Wesbrook in the #81 Porsche 23 laps from the end. Werner / Miller continued their fine form though, coming home second (with help from Craig Stanton).

“During the last few laps I was alongside two of the best Porsche drivers out there, passing Richard (Westbrook), who is a super driver, and then had Dirk (Werner) come up on me and battle until the very end,” explained Andy Lally.  

RJ Valentine is 63 years old today (Sunday) so he had the best possible birthday present.

Result
1 99 DP Gainsco/ Bob Stallings Racing Alex Gurney / Jon Fogarty Riley Pontiac 167 laps 6:01:39.607
2 01 DP TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Scott Pruett / Memo Rojas Riley Lexus –7.069
3 10 DP SunTrust Racing Max Angelelli / Wayne Taylor / Jonathan Cochet Riley Pontiac –10.585
4 6 DP Michael Shank Racing John Pew / Ian James Riley Lexus –20.487
5 76 DP Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn / Nic Jonsson Riley Pontiac –21.695
6 91 DP Lowe's Riley-Matthews Motorsports Jim Matthews / Marc Goossens / Ryan Hunter-Reay Riley Pontiac 167
7 19 DP Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Rob Finlay / Michael Valiante Riley Lexus 167
8 23 DP Alex Job Racing Patrick Long / Jorg Bergmeister Crawford Porsche 167
9 58 DP Red Bull/ Brumos Porsche David Donohue / Darren Law Riley Porsche 167
10 77 DP Doran Racing Memo Gidley / Guy Cosmo Doran Ford 167

11 60 DP Michael Shank Racing Mark Patterson / Oswaldo Negri Riley Lexus 167
12 75 DP Krohn Racing Colin Braun / Max Papis Riley Pontiac 167
13 3 DP Southard Motorsports Shane Lewis / Randy Ruhlman Riley Lexus 167
14 61 DP AIM Autosport Mark Wilkins / Brian Frisselle / Burt Frisselle Riley Lexus 167
15 05 DP Sigalsport BMW Bill Auberlen / Matthew Alhadeff / Joey Hand Riley BMW 165
16 59 DP Brumos Porsche/ Kendall Hurley Haywood / JC France / Joao Barbosa Riley Porsche 165
17 12 DP RVO Motorsports Roger Schramm / Justin Bell Riley Pontiac 161
18 39 DP Cheever Racing Christian Fittipaldi / Harrison Brix Fabcar Porsche 160
19 66 GT TRG Andy Lally / RJ Valentine / Spencer Pumpelly Porsche GT3 Cup 160
2087 GT Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Bryce Miller / Dirk Werner / Craig Stanton Porsche GT3 Cup -2.549
21 07 GT Banner Racing Pontiac Paul Edwards / Kelly Collins GXP.R 160
22 81 GT Synergy Racing Richard Westbrook / Steve Johnson Porsche GT3 Cup 160
23 26 GT Alegra Motorsports Carlos de Quesada / Jean-Francois Dumoulin Porsche GT3 Cup 160
24 16 DP Howard Motorsports Rob Dyson / Chris Dyson / Butch Leitzinger Crawford Porsche 160
25 74 GT Tafel Racing Eric Lux / Wolf Henzler Porsche GT3 Cup 160
26 06 GT Banner Racing Leighton Reese / Tim Lewis Jr. Pontiac GXP.R 159
27 69 GT SpeedSource Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi / Jeff Segal Mazda RX-8 159
28 17 GT Doncaster Racing Tom Papadopoulos / Greg Wilkins / Robert Julien Porsche GT3 Cup 159
29 14 GT Autometrics Motorsports Cory Friedman / Derek Skea Porsche GT3 Cup 157
30 27 GT O'Connell Racing Kevin O'Connell / Mike Speakman Porsche GT3 Cup 156
31 57 GT Stevenson Motorsport Marc Bunting / Dominic Cicero Corvette 150

32 85 GT Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Leh Keen / Dominik Farnbacher Porsche GT3 Cup 145
33 28 GT At Speed Motorsports Ian Baas / Mark White Porsche GT3 Cup 143
34 65 GT TRG Ross Smith / Daniel DiLeo Porsche GT3 Cup 134

3597 GT Stevenson Motorsports Tommy Riggins / Vic Rice Corvette 132
36 43 GT Team Sahlen Wayne Nonnamaker / Joe Nonnamaker Corvette 129
37 67 GT TRG John Potter / Murray Marden / Brent Milner Porsche GT3 Cup 122
38 72 GT Tafel Racing Andrew Davis / Nathan Swartzbaugh / Robin Liddell Porsche GT3 Cup 96

39 64 GT TRG Jim Lowe / Jim Pace Porsche GT3 Cup 90
40 42 GT Team Sahlen Joe Sahlen / Will Nonnamaker Corvette 71
41 70 GT SpeedSource Sylvain Tremblay / Nick Ham / David Haskell Mazda RX-8 45
42 21 GT Matt Connolly Motorsports Matt Connolly / Hal Prewitt Pontiac GTO.R 44
43 30 GT Racers Edge Motorsports James Gue / Mark Pavan Pontiac GXP.R 19
44 11 DP SAMAX Patrick Carpentier / Tomas Enge / Antoine Bessette Riley Pontiac 14

45 24 GT Matt Connolly Motorsports Jim Michaelian / TBA BMW M3 1