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Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in the #99 Gainsco Riley-Chevrolet won the Grand Am Rolex Continental Tire Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. (Brian Cleary/Getty Images)
Grand Am Rolex drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty hadn’t seen the top step of the podium for quite a while before mounting to that spot Saturday evening at Laguna Seca. The pair, which won championships in 2007 and 2009, won but a single race in 2010 and none in 2011—until Laguna Seca.
And at Laguna Seca, the pair won the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda beating rivals Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett, as well as the flying SunTrust car of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor.
“We were struggling earlier this season, and this is a great culmination of our work,” Alex Gurney told grandam.com. “Our car came in really good at the end of the race and I had clear sailing at the end. This is a great place for us to win. Both being California boys, this is as good as it gets."
“"It feels real good to be here (in first place), and now we're going to do everything we can to stay here," said co-driver Jon Fogarty.
The No. 99 Gainsco/Stallings Riley-Chevrolet started second and Jon Fogarty kept it there until lap 20, when he got hung up behind Steve Berthau’s TRG Porsche and Memo Rojas in the No.01 Telmex-Ganassi Riley BMW slipped by.
Fogarty brought the car in for a pit stop on the next lap anyway. A few laps later Rojas and Ricky Taylor in the first-placed SunTrust Dallara-Chevrolet also pitted—a few seconds before a full course caution, caused by Will Nonnamaker’s No. 49 Sahlen Mazda stalling on course.
A few seconds later, Wayne Nonnamaker’s #42 Sahlen Mazda caught fire briefly from a split oil line. The slick Nonnamaker laid down also claimed James Gue and Emil Assentato; both spun but were able to continue.
Most teams opted for driver changes under yellow. As the 30-minute time limit had passed (drivers need at least 30 minutes in a car to score points.) Ryan Dalziel changed cars; he moved from the No. 2 Starworks Riley-Ford to the No. 8, as the team only had three drivers for the event.
Max Angelelli took over the No. 10 SunTrust car; Scott Pruett lay second in the 01, with Alex Gurney third in the 99. The three maintained this order until lap 58, when all three pitted. Pruett and Gurney had good stops; Angelelli was held up by a stuck wheel nut and lost the lead.
Pruett and the rest cycled to the front on lap 69, and it seemed the final hour of the race would follow the familiar pattern: Pruett would find the speed he needed to keep the lead, other teams would chase him unsuccessfully, and the Pruett/Rojas record of victories would swell yet again.
Pruett Errs, Angelelli Axes
Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas brought the #01 Riley-BMW home second in the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival. (Brian Cleary/Getty Images)
Happily for the fans, there were still a few twists in store.
On lap 80, the usually precise Pruett missed his pit box and had to be pushed back by his crew. The delay cost him the lead, as Alex Gurney—who was so eager to pit quickly he slid sideways into pit in—got in and out with Pruett-like precision, gaining the lead.
“Basically I made a mistake,” Pruett told MRN Radio. “Coming into the pits, I don’t know it if it was dirty or what, but I slid too far, and that’s really what cost us the race.”
There was still drama to come. On lap 90 a GT car got wedged in the gravel; it took safety crews five laps (under yellow) to retrieve the vehicle. So the race restarted with 20 minutes left on the clock—plenty of time for one more round of drama.
Max Angelelli believed he had the fastest car (he had run some very fast laps,) and believed he had to get out front to capitalize on it. Max “The Ax” mad e a huge run at Pruett on the restart, determined to get by even if it cost a little bodywork.
It cost that, and more. Bits of carbon fiber sprayed in the air as Angelelli shouldered Pruett aside. Pruett slid off and Ryan Dalziel in the No. 8 Starworks car got by, pushing Pruett to fourth. The debris brought out another yellow, which gave the stewards time to confer.
Next: Stage Rulings, More Contact
