Pontiac Sweeps Grand-Am Podium in Mexico City

[Ming]

Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series
2007-03-03
Pontiac Sweeps Grand-Am Podium in Mexico City
GAINSCO Wins First Race



The GAINSCO Pontiac Riley team posted their first Daytona Prototype (DP) victory today in round two of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve held at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

Jon Fogarty and his No. 99 teammate Alex Gurney drove a hard race chasing the No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley all day to finally pass for the lead for good with two laps remaining. The duo swapped the lead with the Krohn car three times in the final 13 laps to claim their first DP victory.

"I was chasing the 75 car and making up time with every lap," Gurney said. "The car worked great on old tires as we saw after Jon's long first stint. I was able to get through traffic and catch them and get passed. Then it was my turn to get caught up in traffic and Papis went by again. He then over cooked turn one and I passed for the win. This is a great win for our team owner Bob Stallings, it is well deserved by the entire team."

Colin Braun started the No. 75 Krohn Pontiac from pole and drove to a commanding lead, some 18-seconds, before handing over to teammate Max Papis. Papis gave-up time to Alex Gurney and eventually went a little too hot into turn one on lap 98 to relinquish the lead to the No. 99 and come home in second.

"We were doing a great job and hitting the mark every lap, Colin was just plain fast," Papis explained. "I was catching traffic at all of the wrong places and it cost me a lot of time. Alex was coming and went by and I started to really push and then he hit traffic and I was able to get back by for the lead. I made a mistake into turn-one. I let the team down today. I drove as hard as I could. I gave everything in my heart on the track, that is my one mistake for the season."

The No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley had to overcome an early drive-thru penalty awarded to Jan Magnussen for unnecessary contact in the esses. Max Angelelli soon took over the Pontiac powered DP car to cross the line in third, completing an all Pontiac DP podium.

In GT, contact was the rule of the day for the Banner Racing GXP.R racers. On lap 14 teammates Kelly Collins and Leighton Reese came together in turn one, sending Collins into the grass and Reese carrying on with heavy front damage. At the finish the No. 07 of Collins and Paul Edwards finished 10th, with Reese and co-driver Tim Lewis coming to the line in 14th in their No. 06 GXP.R.

Round three of the Grand-Am series will be run at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 24th.

Source: http://www.motorsport.com/news/artic...ANDAM-GRANDCUP

[CBGTO24]

Good, sucks about the GXP:R's though.

[AndrewGS]

I watched the last few minutes of the race. All they cover really are the DP. I was hoping the GT G6s would do better after Daytona, but hopefully they'll do better at Homestead.

I really wish they had more ST coverage this year. I'd like to watch the Cobalts.

[GotAWD]

As montreal Canadians fan say "ET LE BUT!!!!"

good work for Pontiac, now if their was something that all this racing would be put towards. unless its still in the works, for furture models.

G8 and maybe G6 RWD????

[tripowergto]

Uummnnn... I'm quite certain there are no ECOTECS involved.

[AndrewGS]

Originally Posted by tripowergto

Uummnnn... I'm quite certain there are no ECOTECS involved.

For some reason a search I ran earlier made me think the DP cars were running turbo ECOTECs, but after searching for about two hours I finally found it's a 305. It seems nobody but the teams themselves care about the cars' specs.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

Great. I'm confident that we will see the result of this committment to road racing by General Motors in upcoming models. They are collecting reams of data from this racing, and the fruition will be excuisitley performing production cars in these next few years. A performance level from General Motors that we have never seen before. With driving elements particular to General Motors, of over-steer and under-steer, incomparable to any other manufacturer. Cars that perform, yet are safe and stable.

The auto critics will be amazed.

[bone]

Great results in a series that is all about parity. The Pontiac-based DP cars have great drivers,engineers and sponsors. I want to read more about the GXP-R teamates getting into each other. That is not supposed to happen.

[wnsfmike]

Originally Posted by bone

Great results in a series that is all about parity. The Pontiac-based DP cars have great drivers,engineers and sponsors. I want to read more about the GXP-R teamates getting into each other. That is not supposed to happen.

The No. 07 of Collins and Paul Edwards finished 10th, but had a great charge from the back. He spun out of 4th place trying to make the podium.
DP engine rules are here, (5.0L LS) .

http://www.grandamerican.com/CONTENT.../DPEngines.pdf

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

I'd' like to see Pontiac, or Cadillac, get some entries in P1 at Le Mans. Corvette is killing in GT1, but I would like to see some GM P1 entries for Le Mans. Right now, Pontiac or Cadillac would be the most logical for P1. Something that could compete with the Audi R10. It's amazing what Audi was able to complete with that diesel. Probably some insane tourque numbers out of that engine.

[GotAWD]

Originally Posted by New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66

I'd' like to see Pontiac, or Cadillac, get some entries in P1 at Le Mans. Corvette is killing in GT1, but I would like to see some GM P1 entries for Le Mans. Right now, Pontiac or Cadillac would be the most logical for P1. Something that could compete with the Audi R10. It's amazing what Audi was able to complete with that diesel. Probably some insane tourque numbers out of that engine.

No doubt, Cadillac used to run a P1 entry some time ago. i have a picture of the car from a calander, but it would be very beneficial for GM to run something like this for developement and refinemant of their powertrains, as it was mentioned look at what Audi is doing with the R10.

[tholland]

Originally Posted by bone

I want to read more about the GXP-R teamates getting into each other. That is not supposed to happen.

It looked to me like Reese just locked up under braking and ran into Collins, who couldn't brake with his rear tires off the ground. I'm not sure if Reese had a brake issue or what, but that was not typical of him... so just one of those things I guess. They had been glued together for the whole race up till that point, so that was one of the outcomes that prove the reason why that makes you nervous.

As it turns out, not the only teammates to have an incident this weekend after JPM and Pruitt had some contact in today's Busch race... ironically Chip Ganassi said not 2 minutes before that the only rule in play was not to take each other out.