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Fogarty’s Drive Propels Gurney
Brumos Porsche 250
NO QUIT: Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney drove the No. 99 Gainsco Pontiac Riley to victory in Thursday night’s Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona Int’l Speedway despite an early race penalty. (Kory L. Hales Photo)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Grand Am record books will show that Alex Gurney crossed the finish line first, driving the No. 99 Pontiac Riley to victory in Thursday night’s Brumos Porsche 250. It was, however, Gurney’s co-driver that won the race.
Officials slapped Jon Fogarty with a stop-and-go penalty on lap 13 for “avoidable contact” with two other Rolex Series Daytona Prototypes. So, Fogarty stopped and went, picking off competitors one after the other. He quickly climbed to eighth place. Fifteen laps later, he passed Max Angelelli for third. Fogarty, all of sudden, was fighting for the lead.
“I didn’t really think about the penalty,” Fogarty said. “I just took the anger and tried to channel it into some speed, put my head down and tried to get to the front. It was important to get the car up to the front. It seemed like we were going to go green, so we had to push.”
Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing teammate Gurney took over on lap 43 and claimed the lead two laps later after pit stops cycled through. He was never challenged again on Daytona Int’l Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course and gave the team its third-straight victory and series-leading fourth overall.
“Hopefully, we keep putting up the results, and maybe the championship will take care of itself,” Gurney said. “There’s a long way to go, and a lot of things can happen. Everything can change in a heartbeat.”
The No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley of Angelelli and Jonathan Cochet ended up second — 7.48 seconds behind. Rounding out the DP podium was Krohn Racing’s No. 75 of Max Papis and Colin Braun.
Angelelli closed the gap in the championship lead to four points behind Scott Pruett, who ran sixth with co-driver Memo Rojas in the No. 01 Lexus Riley. Fogarty and Gurney are 17 points back in third.
Angelelli tried everything to track down the race winners.
“I was pushing very hard, and I don’t think he was really pushing,” Angelelli said. “He just pulled away enough to be safe.”
In the production-based GT class, the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Nick Ham and Sylvain Tremblay won from the pole, crossing the finish line by 9.514 seconds over the No. 07 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards.
In third were Dirk Werner and Bryce Miller in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup.