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From Grand-Am.com
Determined to break up the closest Daytona Prototype championship race in GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series history, Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor combined to score a dominant victory, Sunday at Laguna Seca to extend their points lead with one race remaining in the season.
The top 10 drivers entered the weekend separated by only five points. Taylor and Angelelli will now go into the season finale at Lime Rock Park on Sept. 28 leading defending champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas by eight points, 304-296.
Taylor and Angelelli dominated, leading 72 of the 105 laps in the two-hour, 45-minute race. While the final margin of victory for Taylor over Pruett was 2.692 seconds. Pruett, co-driving the No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX BMW/Riley with Memo Rojas, moved from sixth to second in the championship standings after passing Dixon with two laps remaining.
Dixon and fellow IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti took third in the No. 02 Cessna BMW/Riley. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty finished fourth in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP, followed by Sebastien Bourdais and Emilio DiGuida in the No. 4 Venezuela Corvette DP.
In GT, Andy Lally led the final 26 laps in the No. 44 Magnus Racing/Flex-Box Porsche GT3 started by John Potter, giving the team its first victory of the year and the lead in the class standings.
Lally held off Billy Johnson, driving the No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 started by Michael Marcel, by .0940 seconds, while Eric Curran and Boris Said were third in the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette and Patrick Lindsey and Patrick Long fourth in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3.
Alessandro Balzan entered the race with the GT class points lead and led 37 laps in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 started by Leh Keen, but finished fifth. Lally and Potter now lead Balzan by eight points (313-305), with John Edwards and Robin Liddell - who finished seventh in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro - another five points back.
Tom Long and Sylvain Tremblay took their third GX victory in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/SpeedSource Mazda 6 while Jim Norman scored his eighth consecutive second-place finish, co-driving with Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman.
The race saw the Rolex Series debut for both Aston Martin and Lotus. Brandon Davis and Darren Turner placed 10th in GT in the No. 66 Paypal/HP Aston Martin Vantage for TRG-AMR, while Scott Dollahite and Jeff Mosing took third in GX in the No. 11 Lotus Evora.
Race results - Laguna Seca (Grand-Am)
1 - Angelelli-Taylor (Corvette DP/Dallara) - Taylor - 105 laps
2 - Pruett-Rojas (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi - 105
3 - Dixon-Franchitti (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi - 105
4 - Fogarty-Gurney (Corvette DP/Riley) - Stallings - 105
5 - Di Guida-Bourdais (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star - 105
6 - Wilson-Yacaman (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 105
7 - Barbosa-Fittipaldi (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx - 105
8 - Taylor-Westbrook (Corvette DP) - SpiritOfDaytona - 105
9 - Cameron-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen - 105
10 - Negri-Pew (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 105
11 - Frisselle-Frisselle (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx - 105
12 - Potolicchio-Valiante-Sarrazin (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star - 104
13 - Dalziel-Popow (Riley-Ford) - Starworks - 103
14 - Nonnamaker-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen - 103
15 - Pace-Defoor (Riley-BMW) - 50+ - 101
16 - Lally-Potter (Porsche 997) - Magnus - 100
17 - Marsal-Johnson (BMW M3) - Turner - 100
18 - Curran-Said (Corvette Z06) - Marsh - 100
19 - Lindsey-Long (Porsche 997) - Park Place - 100
20 - Balzan-Keen (Ferrari 458) - Corsa - 100
21 - Assentato-Lazzaro (Ferrari 458) - AIM - 100
22 - Edwards-Liddell (Chevy Camaro) - Stevenson - 100
23 - Marcelli-Wong (Porsche 997) - Muehlner - 100
24 - Carter-Sellers (Audi R8) - Fall-Line - 100
25 - Davis-Turner (Aston Martin) - TRG - 99
26 - Hartley-Mayer (Porsche 997) - Starworks - 98
27 - Putman-Espenlaub (Porsche 997) - Park Place - 97
28 - Long-Tremblay (Ferrari 458) - Speedsource - 96
29 - Pumpelly-Norman (Porsche Cayman) - BGB - 96
30 - Auberlen-Della Lana (BMW M3) - Turner - 94
31 - Tagliani-Segal (Ferrari 458) - AIM - 81
32 - Dollahite-Mosing (Lotus Evora) - Lotus USA - 78
33 - Miller-Nunez (Mazda 6) - Speedsource - 76
34 - Hedlund-Van Overbeek (Ferrari 458) - Extrme Speed - 14
DP Championship
1. Taylor-Angelelli 304; 2. Rojas-Pruett 296; 3. Gurney-Fogarty 293; 4. Fittipaldi 291; 5. Barbosa 289.
GT Championship
1. Lally-Potter 313; 2. Balzan 305; 3. Edwards-Liddell 300; 4. Lazzaro-Assentato 294; 5. Lindsey-Long 287.
Determined to break up the closest Daytona Prototype championship race in GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series history, Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor combined to score a dominant victory, Sunday at Laguna Seca to extend their points lead with one race remaining in the season.
The top 10 drivers entered the weekend separated by only five points. Taylor and Angelelli will now go into the season finale at Lime Rock Park on Sept. 28 leading defending champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas by eight points, 304-296.
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| Max Angelilli and Jordan Taylor, Corvette Daytona Prototype. (Photo: Grand-Am.com) |
Taylor and Angelelli dominated, leading 72 of the 105 laps in the two-hour, 45-minute race. While the final margin of victory for Taylor over Pruett was 2.692 seconds. Pruett, co-driving the No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX BMW/Riley with Memo Rojas, moved from sixth to second in the championship standings after passing Dixon with two laps remaining.
Dixon and fellow IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti took third in the No. 02 Cessna BMW/Riley. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty finished fourth in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP, followed by Sebastien Bourdais and Emilio DiGuida in the No. 4 Venezuela Corvette DP.
In GT, Andy Lally led the final 26 laps in the No. 44 Magnus Racing/Flex-Box Porsche GT3 started by John Potter, giving the team its first victory of the year and the lead in the class standings.
Lally held off Billy Johnson, driving the No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 started by Michael Marcel, by .0940 seconds, while Eric Curran and Boris Said were third in the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette and Patrick Lindsey and Patrick Long fourth in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3.
Alessandro Balzan entered the race with the GT class points lead and led 37 laps in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 started by Leh Keen, but finished fifth. Lally and Potter now lead Balzan by eight points (313-305), with John Edwards and Robin Liddell - who finished seventh in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro - another five points back.
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| Photo: Grand-Am.com |
Tom Long and Sylvain Tremblay took their third GX victory in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/SpeedSource Mazda 6 while Jim Norman scored his eighth consecutive second-place finish, co-driving with Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman.
The race saw the Rolex Series debut for both Aston Martin and Lotus. Brandon Davis and Darren Turner placed 10th in GT in the No. 66 Paypal/HP Aston Martin Vantage for TRG-AMR, while Scott Dollahite and Jeff Mosing took third in GX in the No. 11 Lotus Evora.
Race results - Laguna Seca (Grand-Am)
1 - Angelelli-Taylor (Corvette DP/Dallara) - Taylor - 105 laps
2 - Pruett-Rojas (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi - 105
3 - Dixon-Franchitti (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi - 105
4 - Fogarty-Gurney (Corvette DP/Riley) - Stallings - 105
5 - Di Guida-Bourdais (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star - 105
6 - Wilson-Yacaman (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 105
7 - Barbosa-Fittipaldi (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx - 105
8 - Taylor-Westbrook (Corvette DP) - SpiritOfDaytona - 105
9 - Cameron-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen - 105
10 - Negri-Pew (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 105
11 - Frisselle-Frisselle (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx - 105
12 - Potolicchio-Valiante-Sarrazin (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star - 104
13 - Dalziel-Popow (Riley-Ford) - Starworks - 103
14 - Nonnamaker-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen - 103
15 - Pace-Defoor (Riley-BMW) - 50+ - 101
16 - Lally-Potter (Porsche 997) - Magnus - 100
17 - Marsal-Johnson (BMW M3) - Turner - 100
18 - Curran-Said (Corvette Z06) - Marsh - 100
19 - Lindsey-Long (Porsche 997) - Park Place - 100
20 - Balzan-Keen (Ferrari 458) - Corsa - 100
21 - Assentato-Lazzaro (Ferrari 458) - AIM - 100
22 - Edwards-Liddell (Chevy Camaro) - Stevenson - 100
23 - Marcelli-Wong (Porsche 997) - Muehlner - 100
24 - Carter-Sellers (Audi R8) - Fall-Line - 100
25 - Davis-Turner (Aston Martin) - TRG - 99
26 - Hartley-Mayer (Porsche 997) - Starworks - 98
27 - Putman-Espenlaub (Porsche 997) - Park Place - 97
28 - Long-Tremblay (Ferrari 458) - Speedsource - 96
29 - Pumpelly-Norman (Porsche Cayman) - BGB - 96
30 - Auberlen-Della Lana (BMW M3) - Turner - 94
31 - Tagliani-Segal (Ferrari 458) - AIM - 81
32 - Dollahite-Mosing (Lotus Evora) - Lotus USA - 78
33 - Miller-Nunez (Mazda 6) - Speedsource - 76
34 - Hedlund-Van Overbeek (Ferrari 458) - Extrme Speed - 14
DP Championship
1. Taylor-Angelelli 304; 2. Rojas-Pruett 296; 3. Gurney-Fogarty 293; 4. Fittipaldi 291; 5. Barbosa 289.
GT Championship
1. Lally-Potter 313; 2. Balzan 305; 3. Edwards-Liddell 300; 4. Lazzaro-Assentato 294; 5. Lindsey-Long 287.