LEXINGTON, Ohio — “When you’re hot, you’re hot.”
Here at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Saturday evening, despite cool temperatures, Gainsco drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in their Pontiac Riley showed just how hot they are at the moment, winning their second-straight Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype EMCO Gears Classic round of the Grand American Road Racing Ass’n’s championship chase.
Such was the domination of the Bob Stallings-owned team that not only did Gurney and Fogarty start from the pole, but they led the majority of the laps, handing over the top spot for just a few laps during the pit-stop exchanges that occurred during the yellow-flag-free affair. In the end, they had nearly a half-a-minute lead over Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in Chip Ganassi’s Lexus-powered Riley. They had inherited second when David Donohue was forced to pit the Red Bull-backed Porsche he was sharing with Darren Law for a splash of fuel a few laps from the finish after having run second for most of the event.
Despite the last-minute pit visit, Donohue was able to bring the Red Bull coupe home in fifth, ironically the same position from which Pruett and Rojas had begun the race. Likewise moving up the ladder were 18-year-old Colin Braun, who has signed a contract for next year with Roush Racing, and his partner, Max Papis, the two beginning their late- afternoon sojourn sixth and finishing it in third.
Garnering fourth was the SunTrust Pontiac Riley of Max Angelelli and Jonathan Cochet, the two showing great consistency throughout, if not having quite enough speed to climb into the three podium slots. The final two cars to complete the full 111-lap distance were the Ruby Tuesday Alex Job Porsche of Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister, which had been forced to start dead last after missing qualifying with mechanical woes, and the second Ganassi Lexus Riley of Rob Finlay and Michael Valiante, the two prototypes occupying sixth and seventh, respectively.
After the finish, Gurney was asked to comment on his day, the second generation driver replied, “It was obviously great, just mistake free. I had no problems with the strategy or anything else. I hope the wins keep coming.”
Fogarty, on the other hand, was the Gainsco weatherman, as the threat of rain hung over the race.
“We were concerned about track conditions because this is always a difficult circuit on which to pass,” said Fogarty. “Starting on the pole was the key because I was able to stay out front before I handed it over to Alex. All in all, it was just excellent.”