|
Grand-Am, Infineon Raceway – Race Report SunTrust Racing confirmed in California that its recovery from its early-season traumas was now officially complete, by taking victory in the Armed Forces 250; Max Angelelli and Michael Valiante dominating proceedings in the team’s #10 Pontiac Dallara.
All 17 cars took the start for the second DP-only race of the season and Valiante immediately consolidated pole by pulling out a gap on his challengers. These did not initially include Brian Frisselle, who pitted the #61 AIM Ford Riley at the end of the first lap to get his compulsory stop out of the way; but he would rapidly come back into contention over the next 30 minutes.
At the end of the first lap, the order was 10, 99, 58, 01 and 23; and this was how they would remain for quite a number of laps. While several positions were traded further back – Christian Fittipaldi in particular making good progress after a lowly 15th placed start in the #16 Cheever Racing Pontiac Coyote – but it was not until lap 16 that Bill Auberlen took the #23 AJR Porsche Riley up into fourth at the expense of Memo Rojas’ #01 Chip Ganassi Lexus Riley. One lap later, Frisselle was back into the top ten. With all the cars required to stop before the 30-minute mark, the lead changed hands a number of times between laps 24 and 28. At this point, Bill Auberlen – the last to stop – handed the lead over to…Brian Frisselle.
Auberlen, meanwhile, was not a happy chappy; "The stint was good, but when we came in for our first pit stop, we had an 11-second lead over the fourth and fifth place cars. Then, when we came out, we were 11 seconds behind them. The car's good, but we've got work to do with the crew," he said later. The #61’s lead over Max Angelelli, now ensconced in the #10, was eight seconds; the top five being 61, 10, 99, 58 and 47. But it soon became clear that the advantage lay with the Italian, and the gap was down to just over a second by lap 36. Frisselle defended well over the next few laps, before yielding at Turn 7 on lap 45. From this point on, the SunTrust car would retain the lead. When Frisselle pitted to hand over to Mark Wilkins on lap 53, Angelelli’s lead over new second-place driver Alex Gurney (#99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley) was 7.6s, and when the leader stopped for fuel and new boots on lap 59, he found himself still in that place when he returned to the track; his pursuers having also stopped shortly before. Angelelli also found himself following a safety car; a full course caution having been called to recover Shane Lewis’ stricken #3 Southard Motorsports’ Lexus Riley, which had stopped on the track with a broken axle. The race went green again on lap 64, with contact between #01 and #58 leaving Scott Pruett with a stop/go penalty, which he served on lap 67. The top five was now 10, 99, 61, 57 and 76.
As Angelelli once more built up his lead, several close battles were taking place further back. Fourth place was being disputed between 58, 76 and 59, while 77, 23 and 01 all coveted seventh place. This latter battle was resolved on lap 85, when Memo Gidley lost out to both Joey Hand and Scott Pruett; but the fourth place battle ended in tears when Darren Law and Ricardo Zonta tangled at Turn 7. Law’s #58 Brumos Porsche went off track, but was able to resume having lost a lap.
Angelelli was able to slow his pace as the final laps approached, allowing Gurney to reduce the gap, but the SunTrust had plenty in reserve, should it be needed, and the Italian stroked off the final few laps to take the win (his third, but Valiante’s first) by 3.6s. “I am very happy, there couldn’t have been a better place for our first win,” Angelelli said. “We had a lot of our sponsors here today and all of the Dallara guys were here from Italy to watch the car run for the first time. It was great to get the win, set fast lap of the race and the pole position, the car was very fast all weekend.”
"It was just unfortunate what happened with the (No.) 61; it was unfortunate for them because we wanted to race them,” said Valiante. “It was good in the race to actually come through together and battle with them and show that we had the speed we did this weekend even though they had to start from the back. In the race I thought we'd be challenged a lot more than we were. From all the problems we had all year long, it was a textbook race. It couldn't have gone any better. We kept saying our time's coming. The clock was ticking. So it was nice for it to finally come before the end of the year." Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty took runner-up spot, to reduce the points-gap to Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (sixth) to 42, with two races remaining; while Brian Frisselle and Mark Wilkins took their third-consecutive podium finish to round off the top three.
"It was definitely a little bit different than last year," said Gurney, who co-drove to a convincing victory at Infineon in 2007 with Fogarty and the No. 99 GAINSCO team. "I think we were the fastest car last year and this year the SunTrust guys set the pace most of the weekend and definitely in the race. They had us scratching our heads and definitely a little worried. We worked on the car and made some pretty big changes throughout the weekend and it was the best it was in the race. SunTrust's pace was just a little bit too much, but I was happy we were able to pull away from the No. 61 car. It was a good finish but I miss the wins for sure. I don't like finishing second." "I had a pretty good start," said Fogarty, who moved from third on the grid to second in the race's first turn. "I was right up there behind Michael (Valiante) and was able to stay on his bumper and that allowed me to get alongside the No. 58 and make a move and come out of there in P2. We pushed really hard but the No. 10 SunTrust car was really quick today and hats off to them. It was pretty difficult for me as we started on the set of tires that we qualified on and I kind of abused them a little bit in qualifying. But I was able to maintain my position and hand the car over in good shape." Mark Wilkins: "Yellows would have certainly helped us a little bit. Brian (Frisselle) drove a fantastic stint, getting the car from near the back to the front. It's a tough track, and the AIM guys gave us a fantastic car. We're thrilled to be back on the podium again. "New Jersey (next week) is a track we're definitely looking forward to because it's a level playing field for everybody. No one knows what to expect. I think the talented group that we have will get up to speed very quickly. Brian will be finishing that race, as we're switching it up a little bit, but I'm very, very confident that we'll have a great car there and we'll be able to get another great result." Brian Frisselle: "It was good. I knew it was going to be tough, because this place is a tough place to pass. I knew you really had to work the race track to get through traffic. I just had to put my head down, and the team called a great strategy, having us pit on Lap 1, and then running me long. It was hard there at the end, not only with Max (Angelelli), but because my tires had about double the laps that he had on them. So it was hard to keep him behind me. But the team just did a great job calling the strategies and getting track positions. I tried to pass as many cars as I could, and (Mark Wilkins) kept it near the front for his entire stint." The penultimate race of the 2008 season, with a combined DP/GT field once more, would take place at the brand new facility of the New Jersey Motorsports Park the following weekend. |
