Grand-Am, VIR - Race Report
Gurney & Fogarty Celebrate Their 40th With A Win

Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty took victory in the first 'regular' Grand-Am race of the season at Virginia International Raceway after leading for the final 16 laps and overcoming late fuel-worries in the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Pontiac Riley. This was their ninth victory in 40 races together and their first at VIR. Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis, meanwhile, managed a repeat of their 2008 GT class victory in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R after similarly taking and holding the lead in the closing stages.

The battle for pole had gone the way of Memo Rojas after the Mexican and Timo Bernhard traded fastest laps throughout the session; the #01 Chip Ganassi Lexus Riley finishing on 1:41.646, against a 1:42.233 for the #12 Penske Racing Porsche Riley. The top eight in the DP class all qualified under the existing lap record.

GT pole was claimed by Nick Ham in the #70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8, with a 1:51.742 - a new lap record time, almost two seconds faster than the previous one. Ham's efforts made it two out of two for that car after Sylvain Tremblay took pole at the Rolex 24 almost three months earlier. Dane Cameron took second in the #30 Racer's Edge Motorsport RX8, with 1:51.977; a best-ever performance for driver and team. 

The race began in intense heat and glorious sunshine, and with a record crowd for the circuit on hand to witness proceedings.

Nic Jonsson, having qualified sixth, progressed up to fourth on the first lap; but, as he arrived at Turn One for the second time, a coming together with Darren Law’s #58 Brumos Porsche would see the #76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola heading for a very early retirement; “It’s obviously very disappointing," said Jonsson. "We had a very good car again. The guys have done a great job. We had a good start where we came from sixth up to fourth on the first lap. I was fighting a little bit in turn one for position there. I was not really going to fight it too hard early in the race, so I just let the 61 car go by. It was a clean pass on his part. I made a corner than then coming out of Turn One I got nailed by the 58 car coming off the corner.  It bent the toe link and pierced the rear right rim wheel. We just had to come in and park it. It’s very unfortunate after this long break; we were looking forward to coming back and racing. It’s unfortunate that we can’t go back racing clean. We just have to play by the rules, I guess, and try to come back in New Jersey.”

The first lead-change came on lap five, when Memo Rojas pitted to change a flat-spotted tyre. Jon Fogarty now led in the #99 GAINSCO Riley, but only for three laps; a collision in the GT ranks heralding the first of four caution periods, and prompting the leader to pit. Timo Bernhard now assumed the lead.

The race went green again just before the half-hour mark, and now it was time for J C France in the second Brumos car, #59, to make himself unpopular; pitching the #6 MSR Riley of John Pew off track and earning a drive-through in the process.

Two more caution periods in the next hour kept the field bunched, with Memo Rojas once more back in the lead at 90 minutes.

In the GT class, the top five was a Mazda-free zone at this point in the race; Paul Edwards leading in the #07 Banner Racing Pontiac from Ted Ballou in the #66 TRG Porsche.

As the race entered its final hour, the lead changes continued – including Darren Manning’s Orbit Racing BMW Riley and Andy Wallace in the #2 Pontiac Crawford – until it began to boil down to a straight fight between new leader Michael Valiante in the #6 Michael Shank Riley – a fine comeback drive for this car after twice being punted off-track – Alex Gurney in the #99 Bob Stallings Riley, and Scott Pruett in the #01 Chip Ganassi Riley.

With 33 minutes remaining, Gurney boxed Valiante in behind two GTs and was through and into the lead.

Like the closing stages of the Rolex 24 before it, the pace of the leaders as the VIR chequered flag drew nearer didn’t let up – the top three now covered by just six-tenths. Indeed, the relentless pace was starting to cause real anxiety amongst the relevant teams as to whether the cars had enough fuel to get to the end.

Fortunately for Gurney, the Childress-Howard Motorsports Crawford’s fine run was about to come to an end; Andy Wallace stopping on track and precipitating the final caution period.

The three laps under yellows eased the fuel worries and Gurney held on to win the final three-lap thrash to the finish once the green had been shown.

“It was a great day and this is where we always want to be,” said Gurney.  “Our guys did some really neat things over the off season and after Daytona.  We have a new car and a lot of nice detail changes so we have really made some big improvements.

“The race to me just seemed to be a typical Grand-Am race. Just really intense, so many fast guys and good teams and it is just tough to be up there and get the breaks in traffic and not make mistakes.  At the end Michael and I were both in a fuel situation, I think, and my guys were yelling at me every lap ‘you’re not making the (mileage) number, you’re not making the number and we are going to run out of fuel.’  So, we were happy to see the yellow.  It was a great race with Michael there and he just got held up in traffic – that was right before the esses – and it was just one of those unlucky deals.  That’s happened to me quite a bit last year.”

"I had a good in-lap and then the crew did a phenomenal job to get me out so quickly, and then I was able to keep the 99 car behind me on my out lap," said Valiante. "But we had contact with a lapped car and that damaged the front of our car a little bit so when we caught that traffic, there was nothing I could do to keep Alex from getting the lead. We had a lot of ground to make up after John got knocked off track. We were fast enough to run up front, but just didn't have the speed to get back in front of him. It's tough to be that close and not get the win, but it's still great to get up here on the podium with John, and we'll look to do it again next weekend in New Jersey."

The GT race had similarly boiled down to a straight fight between Robin Liddell in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac and the #07 GXP.R, now with Paul Edwards on board.

Pressure from the Scottish driver on lap 71 (23 minutes to go) had caused the Banner car to put two wheels on the dirt and momentarily lose momentum. Liddell saw his opportunity and made a move; the two cars coming together in the process. Edwards went off course and Liddell now lead by six seconds.

The caution closed both cars up again, but the Banner driver was unable to regain the lead in the final three lap sprint.

“We didn't have the outright pace of the Mazda which secured pole-position but were confident the Pontiacs would be strong over the entire race distance," said Liddell. "We knew Paul [Edwards] would be strong in the 07 car but also knew that if we could be consistent and look after our tyres, we could probably take advantage in the closing stages.

"The Stevenson crew did an excellent job as always and it was great to be back on the top step of the podium, particularly as it is the team's 'home' race and we had so many supporters present."

An air-conditioning failure didn't make their race any easier, especially given the temperature (32° C / 90° F) in which it was run; "You don't realize how important the driver cooling aids are until you have a problem," said the Scot. "It was like breathing fire in there! But we just kept our heads down and pressed on, as we knew we might have a chance at the closing stages."

"We stayed on the lead lap until halfway," said Kelly Collins. "It was really exciting battling out there with Sylvain. He came back real strong. It was good, clean racing. Paul drove a long stint and he did a fantastic job. All told, it was a good day for Pontiac."

A good day for Pontiac indeed. How ironic, then, that the imminent demise of the brand would be announced just two days later.