While Joao Barbosa and Hurley Haywood won Saturday’s Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season-ending Grand Prix of Miami, Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney finished fourth to capture their second Daytona Prototype championship.
Barbosa passed Scott Pruett on the back straight with 28 minutes – or Lap 84 of 100 - remaining in the two-and-half hour race to score his first Daytona Prototype triumph, while Haywood – a late addition to the Brumos lineup – scored his first victory since winning a pair of races at Homestead and Phoenix in 2003. “This is a testament to the Brumos legacy,” said the 61-year-old Haywood. “To put an old guy in the car with hardly any practice time, and to have Joao bring the car home in the dramatic fashion he did, well, that is Brumos. I don’t think anybody thought we could win today – it’s just overwhelming.”
It marked the second Daytona Prototype championship for Fogarty and Gurney in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley. They finished six points ahead (337-331) of Pruett and Memo Rojas, who finished second in the No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley. Brian Frisselle and Max Angelelli entered the race second in the standings but finished seventh in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara. They finished the year third in the championship with 325 points.
The race ended under caution following a multi-car spin on a restart with six minutes remaining, when Jared Beyer was turned around in front of a pack of cars – eliminating Beyer while damaging many of the GT contenders. That gave the Acxiom GT victory to Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards in the No. 07 Team Drinkin’ Mate Pontiac GXP.R, while Leh Keen and Dirk Werner captured the championship with a third-place finish.
Fogarty won his fifth consecutive pole and six in seven races in Friday’s qualifying, and led twice for 45 of the 100 laps. Gurney took over and ran in position to take the title throughout his run. “We fought harder this year,” said Gurney, who joined Fogarty in winning seven races in the 2007 championship run. “This one was a little more rewarding.”
Both Rojas and Pruett each took turns in the lead, but Barbosa went by and led the final 17 circuits. “I did not think in the beginning that we had a car to win,” Barbosa said. “The crew made the car better on every pit stop and suddenly I am in a position to pass for the lead. When I went by Scott, I was so happy I could cry. To be competitive, to be in position to win a race is a great feeling. And to win it, is the happiest a driver can be.”
Pruett, who shared the 2004 and 2008 Daytona Prototype titles, finished second in the points for the fourth time. “It was a hard-fought battle all day long, and we fought hard for every position,” Pruett said. “We gave it all we had. It was a brutal day – the heat was ugly. But that’s the way it is.”
Mark Patterson and Ozz Negri teamed to finish third in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley. It was their eighth top-10 finish of the season and their first podium. The finish also unofficially will have Patterson become the first two-time recipient of the Jim Trueman Award as the top gentleman driver in the division. “This is phenomenal to finish on the podium in front of my friends and family,” Negri said. “I am so happy to be here with Mark, and for him to win the Trueman Award makes me so happy. It was hard with the heat, and the tires were a big challenge as well.”
Darren Law and David Donohue, winners of the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, finished fifth in the No. 58 Brumos Porsche Riley. Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut finished sixth in the No. 55 Supercar Life Racing BMW Riley after Bouchut led 12 laps. Tucker also drove in the team’s No. 95 BMW Riley, joining Ryan Hunter-Reay in an 11th-place finish. At one point, the teammates ran 1-2 before both cars pitted. Hunter-Reay also raced later in the afternoon in the IndyCar Series finale on the speedway’s 1.5-mile oval.
Source : Grand-Am