Grand-Am, New Jersey Motorsports Park - Race Report
Win Number Five For Pruett & Rojas

Qualifying

Ricky Taylor improved his consecutive Daytona Prototype pole position streak to five at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and would lead the field to the start of the American Red Cross 250, the ninth round of the season.

Taylor, in the #10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Dallara, lapped the 2.25-mile, 12-turn track at a time of 1:16.719, slightly better than Antonio Garcia's time of 1:16.769 in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Chevrolet/Coyote.

"I think I can't take very much credit for it in qualifying," Taylor said. "The car does most of the work and it's been really, really quick this year."

Taylor's five-race pole streak moved him within two of the all-time record; Jon Fogarty won seven consecutive poles in 2007. Fogarty, the defending race co-winner with Alex Gurney, qualified third in the #99 GAINSCO Chevrolet/Riley.

In the GT class, John Edwards earned his first career Rolex Series pole, turning in a time of 1:24.673 in the #42 Team Sahlen Mazda RX-8.

"The progress Team Sahlen has made is a multitude of things that have come together all at the right time," Edwards said. "We're shooting for more podiums and hopefully a win or two later this year."

Joining Edwards on the GT front row was Boris Said, who turned a time of 1:24.715 in the #31 Whelen Engineering Corvette.

Race

Scott Pruett put another check on his victory list Sunday, taking advantage of sizzling conditions to post his first career victory at New Jersey Motorsports Park - one of only two circuits that the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series visits where he had never won. This leaves just Lime Rock to be conquered.

Pruett and Rojas took their fifth triumph of the season in the #01 TELMEX BMW/Riley by 3.806s, taking another step toward a second consecutive Daytona Prototype championship in front of the largest crowd for a Grand-Am event in the four years that the series has raced at the circuit.

"The car came to us, actually. It kept getting faster and faster, "said Pruett. "It was a little difficult trying to make a decision but we were still running high-17s on the old tires, so we opted to stay out. We just had a great car and just drove away there at the end."

Max Angelelli passed Alex Gurney in the closing laps to take second in the #10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Dallara started from the pole by Ricky Taylor. Gurney held on to finish third in the #99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley co-driven by Jon Fogarty.

"It's pretty disappointing for us," said Gurney. "I think with a half hour or 35 minutes to go, we had a pretty big lead. I think I still had 13 seconds or something like that and then we got that yellow."

In a change from the Chip Ganassi Racing strategy for the sprint races on the Rolex Series schedule, Pruett both started and finished the event, with Rojas driving the middle hour. Pruett rebounded from a drive-through penalty early in the race when he spun out Taylor while battling for the lead. Taylor led the opening 36 circuits before the contact.

Pruett took the lead for the first time with less than one hour remaining when Angelelli pitted on lap 99. He led the final 19 circuits to score his 36th DP victory, sharing 23 of them with Rojas.

Ryan Dalziel finished fourth for the third consecutive event, moving to the Starworks Motorsport #7 Ford/Riley with new co-driver Raphael Matos. JC France, Terry Borcheller and Joao Barbosa finished fifth in the #9 Action Express Racing Porsche/Riley, their best finish since winning at Virginia International Raceway in April.

Antonio Garcia and Paul Edwards finished a season-best seventh in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Chevrolet/Coyote after Garcia led 15 laps in the early going.

In the GT class, Mazda scored a podium sweep led by Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito in the #70 Mazdaspeed/Castrol Edge Mazda RX-8.

Unlike last year - when SpeedSource cars took the top three positions, three different teams finished on the GT podium as the marque took its first victory of the season.

Bomarito took the checkered flag .685 seconds ahead of John Edwards, who won the pole in the #42 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 he shared with Wayne Nonnamaker. James Gue and Dane Cameron took third in the #41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8.

"To fill the podium with Mazdas is hugely important to the program," said Tremblay. "A lot of people are asking, ‘What are you doing next year?' Mazda is here, Mazda is not going anywhere and we're racing RX-8s in Grand-Am next year."

Jordan Taylor and Bill Lester finished fourth in the #88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, narrowing the gap in the point standings to one point behind Brumos Racing teammates Andrew Davis and Leh Keen with three races remaining. The championship-leading #59 Porsche GT3 was never a factor, going several laps down in the early going with a thrown alternator belt.

Boris Said and Eric Curran combined to lead 37 laps in the #31 Whelen Engineering Corvette and were in contention to give the team its second GT victory of the season before being sidelined after contact with Charles Espenlaub in the #40 Visit Florida Mazda RX-8.