Grand-Am – VIR – Race Report
Max And Jan At Last

They last won at Laguna Seca last year – so a win for Jan Magnussen and Max Angelelli in the #10 SunTrust Riley Pontiac was long overdue. Second in the Virginia sunshine was the Colin Braun / Max Papis Krohn Riley, while third changed on the last lap, Darren Law and David Donohue taking the spot, after problems in the #11 SAMAX Riley. Not quite a Pontiac 1-2-3 then, but almost.

After a suspension failure in qualifying, Jorg Bergmeister started the AJR Crawford from the back, while the Riley Infiniti, a late entry, was withdrawn. In a nice touch, Darren Law and JC France led them round on the parade lap, in honour of Bob Snodgrass. They dropped back to their proper starting positions, and as they got underway, Jon Fogarty, beginning an eventful stint, was disputing the lead with Colin Braun. Bergmeister pitted very early, getting the mandatory before-45-minutes stop out of the way, and therefore running in clean air.

Fogarty took the lead on lap 2, but a lap later, 2007 winner Matthew Alhadeff and Tracy Krohn came together, with Jim Matthews also involved. That meant that the Riley BMW was almost a lap down – and the leader made contact as he lapped the #05 car. A caution was thrown to clear up the debris, and virtually the whole field pitted – Memo Rojas in the Ganassi car vaulting from fifth to first as they all left the pits. The “must stop before 45 minutes rule” didn’t seem significant then, because they virtually all had anyway, while the odd “second chance” rule meant that Alhadeff got one lap back – but was still a lap down.

Lap 10 and they were racing again, Braun still looking very strong and picking off (the three) cars ahead – but Darren Law passed Rojas just before Braun did the same. Rojas spun off, Braun passed Law, Rojas pitted for the driver change (Pruett would eventually finish eighth, although he slipped much further back after a spin) – and Magnussen and Fogarty were third and fourth. Bergmeister was seventh.

Pole man Colin Braun then began to ease away, while Fogarty was in more trouble as he fought for third with Magnussen, sliding off and inflicting more damage to the r/front: the headlight was missing after this incident.

Braun was dominant though, extending his lead – from Magnussen and Fogarty, after Law had a moment, dropping to fourth. Lap 30 and the #75 led by 15 seconds. The best racing was between Burt Friselle, Bergmeister and Negri for sixth. Mark Wilkins was an excellent fifth in the #61 entry. Fogarty dramas continued as he left the track at Turn 11, resuming in tenth, the #99 eventually fighting back to fifth.

Driver changes of the more routine sort began at 39 laps (of 77), the leader staying out to lap 44, but before they’d all stopped, Bill Auberlen ground to a halt in the #05 car, bringing out the second caution. Max Papis led though, from Max Angelelli: it would be between the two Italians for the win.

The key moment came on lap 53, Max passing Max at Turn 1 – and then able to pull out a lead, if only gradually.

Ryan Dalziel in the SAMAX Riley had neatly positioned himself in third (after a well-timed, earlyish stop by the team - although that would come back to haunt them), with David Donohue fourth, and although position changes were taking place outside of the top four, the first four seemed more or less set. Max A came home 3.5 seconds ahead of Max P, and it looked as though the #58 Brumos Porsche would finish in a fine fourth. This is Dumoulin in #11 earlier in the race - the Canadian making his DP debut.

“My racing was truly boring,” said David Donohue. “I was going after the No. 11 car the entire time, and he ran out of gas on the last lap, which is how we got third place. I mean, I really didn’t have much for him. He could get me off the corners and I could get him off braking, and we were about even at different places on the track.”

Poor old Ryan Dalziel did not hear the crew tell him to switch the fuel setting to reserve and Donohue jumped him. "I was waiting for the stumble on the fuel and it came at exactly the wrong time," said the Scot. "We had radio problems and I did not hear the team tell me to go to reserve. We had a strong car, especially down the straight. I am excited for the finish as well as disappointed. We had a podium spot with less than a lap to go. But the strategy was right on and the team did a great job to get us in that position today."

Jon Fogarty admitted that “I made mistakes, and I apologize for those, and I’m thankful and grateful that Alex was able to bring the GAINSCO Pontiac home with a solid finish.” Gurney was the main mover in the second phase of the race, as he rose up to fifth.

But the biggest smiles were from the SunTrust crew, although Braun and Papis were far from unhappy with second.

“I have to say that after yesterday in qualifying I didn’t think we were going to have a race-winning car,” said Jan Magnussen. “We had some problems all through practice and qualifying, which we sorted out during qualifying (warm up) this morning luckily. The warm-up was great, and in the race we had a great race car.”

“Nothing big happened during the first stint,” commented Colin Braun. “I just went out and cruised and tried to save the tires and fuel. I came in and handed it over to Max, and I think he did a great job. It’s so tough, it’s so tight, and it’s such close racing that we have. I think we’re going to go to the next one and be even stronger. We’re going to go testing, and hopefully come out the next time and challenge for the win.”

Papis indicated that the car was “loose” in his stint.

With Pruett in eighth, the SunTrust pair now lead the points on 127, ahead of Pruett on 116 and Braun / Papis on 107.

After finishing third in the race, David Donohue, pulled to the edge of the course and waited for Hurley Haywood in the #59 to catch up: the two cars completed the cool-down lap and returned to the pits together.