WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Friday’s return of the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series to the historic Watkins Glen Int’l circuit was business as usual.
After all, the Gainsco duo of Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney sat on the pole and dominated the two-hour affair in their Pontiac-Riley, winning for the sixth time this season.
The drama, however, was in the championship hunt.
Entering Watkins Glen, just two points separated Chip Ganassi driver Scott Pruett, the man out front, from the SunTrust team’s Max Angelelli, with Gurney and Fogarty still with a strong chance of garnering the year-end honors.
With Jan Magnussen, his Montreal-winning partner of the previous week, in Europe for a Touring Car event, Angelelli was teamed with Memo Gidley for the short Glen affair — Gidley’s assignment being more to hand over the car on what most believed would be its one and only pit stop in good working order. And, while Gidley had a few close moments, that is exactly what he did, leaving Angelelli to determine his own fate.
Similarly, Memo Rojas, in Ganassi’s Telmex Lexus-Riley, also found himself on the constraint of keeping his car in good shape for Pruett when he climbed behind the wheel to defend his tight title advantage. Like Gidley, Rojas did his job to perfection. Even so, issues in qualifying had forced the Ganassi duo to start near the back of the field in 14th, making Pruett’s task a daunting one.
Pruett quickly displayed his skills and motivation by moving into fourth behind the Krohn Racing Pontiac-Riley of Nic Jonsson and Colin Braun, with the 18-year-old Braun, who has been put on probation for his recent excesses in driving technique, displaying near complete coolness in the cockpit despite coming under increasing pressure from Pruett.
For the most part, the four full-course cautions, including the first that came on the opening lap, and the second in which all the mandatory driver changes occurred, had little effect on the outcome, nor were the causes significant. However, the final pace-car period did contribute to one of the more tense finishes in recent memory.
With the field bunched up and with Gurney leading Angelelli and Braun as Pruett pushed from fourth, the quartet came on the second Krohn entry with Max Papis and team principal Tracy Krohn aboard. Regardless of the reason why, the slower Krohn Pontiac-Riley appeared to block the leaders, this in turn seeming to inspire Braun to try and make a dangerous last-lap attempt to get by Angelelli. Not only did Braun’s attempt to get inside the SunTrust entry fail, it almost took Angelelli out of the race and resulted in Braun spinning out of third, leaving him 11th at the flag.
Taking advantage of Braun’s miscue was Pruett, who claimed the show position and helped his title hopes — the point differential between third and fourth keeping him in a tie with Angelelli for the lead.
As for Gurney and Fogarty, they are now just four back. They would have to win at Infineon Raceway and in the Miller Motorsports Park finale to ensure a championship.