Grand-Am, Watkins Glen - Race Report
Pruett & Rojas Complete The Hat-Trick At The Glen

Five days after a three-race winning streak ended in a first-lap crash, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas turned in a solid performance in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW Riley and took their third consecutive victory in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.

Pruett led the final 30 of 191 laps on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International long circuit, beating Max Angelelli to the checkered flag by 1.623 seconds. On Monday, the Chip Ganassi team finished last in the Daytona Prototype field after Rojas went off in Turn 1 at Lime Rock Park.

"I love coming to Watkins Glen and I love racing here," said Pruett, who scored his 27th career victory driving a Chip Ganassi Racing Daytona Prototype - with an event record four of them coming in the six-hour Glen event.

"Getting my little piece of history here is an honor. It was a little scary today when the rain started coming down early in the race on part of the course - that always adds some extra drama."

Pruett and Rojas won their fourth race of 2010, extending their lead in the Daytona Prototype championship to 18 points (190-172) over Ryan Dalziel, who finished seventh in the No. 8 Corsa Car Care BMW Riley.

It was Angelelli's fifth consecutive top-three finish in the event, co-driving the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara with Ricky Taylor. The two won Monday's race at the Connecticut circuit.

The Ganassi team's biggest rival throughout the race was the No. 99 GAINSCO Chevrolet Riley of Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney and four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The two teams combined to lead 179 laps. Gurney was running third when he spun in Turn 7 with 15 minutes remaining, resulting in a sixth-place finish; “I feel really bad and threw away a certain podium,” said Gurney, who drove the final two hours of the race.  “I was absolutely on my limit the entire run. I had a good restart, my first restart, and got two guys and just gave three spots back there at the end with the spin. I had been locking up the rears a little bit going into the Toe of the Boot, and should have gone for it on the brake bias, and just got in there a little hot.  I thought I was making up time on Max there but I was just pushing too hard and spun it around.  It’s a shame but we will go on to the next one.”

"This was probably the best the GAINSCO Auto Insurance car ever has been at Watkins Glen," said Fogarty, who drove the opening three hours, seven minutes of the race before turning the car over to Johnson. The reigning NASCAR champion ran second behind Rojas for his entire hour behind the wheel.

Antonio Garcia and Buddy Rice finished third in the No. 90 Porsche/Coyote, giving the Spirit of Daytona Racing its first Daytona Prototype podium finish.

The race was slowed by four caution periods, with the most serious incident occurring in the final hour. The No. 6 CAP & Associates Ford Riley of Michael Valiante caught fire on the course, and Valiante, who co-drove with Brian Frisselle and Mark Patterson, nursed the car to the entrance of pit lane. He managed to escape from the car before it was engulfed in flames.

In GT, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly and Bob Doyle came from last in the 29-car field to win. It was Lally's second triumph of the season, joining Ted Ballou when TRG won in its most recent Rolex Series appearance in April at Virginia International Raceway. Lally and Pumpelly also won the GT portion of the race in 2007.

“We weren’t sure if we were even going to be here this weekend and worked on it right up until the last minute,” stated Kevin Buckler. “With the rules the way they’ve been up to now, it’s been tough for our TRG Porsches to show any speed, but I knew the Glen could be a good track. The guys were solid all race, and when the right moment came, we were there. I’m so proud of all these guys, it was a monumental effort for the entire team to make it happen this weekend, and it’s a real tribute to how hard they all work to get here. Bob drove a smart opening stint, and I’m so happy that he could join us. We had a great time with him at Daytona, and I’m so happy that we were able to deliver his first win in Grand-Am. We could not have done it without him. Andy and Spencer drove their usual perfect stints, the team performed flawlessly in the pits, our strategy was “right-on”, and grabbing the checkered flag was the result. It’s really great to be back with Grand-Am. They put on a fantastic show here. This is a great moment for all of TRG, I’m just so proud to be part of it.”

Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito finished second in the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8. The No. 41 Global Diving & Salvage Mazda RX-8 of Leh Keen and James Gue led a class-leading 49 laps in an effort to give Dempsey Racing its first victory, but the car dropped back to sixth after a pit miscommunications. Keen - last year's Sahlen's Six Hour GT winner with Farnbacher-Loles - drove a spirited final hour to finish third, pressuring Bomarito at the checkered flag.

The Miller Barrett Porsche was in contention in the early stages, but retired from second place with an overheating engine; "The car was so good," said Bryce Miller. "The crew worked through the night to prepare the car and make some changes that really elevated our performance and I was able to charge very hard from the beginning up to third. Later on, we were running in second place and positioned really good with Luke being our co-driver. It's an unfortunate situation; I feel bad for the crew. The car was a podium car and it came down to a small plastic part that broke. It's promising, though, because we are running with podium cars all the time now. It's exciting to me because I'm having fun driving again and I'm able to really race the car."

The next race for the Rolex Series will be the June 19 EMCO Gears Classic presented by Key Bank at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.