Angelelli, Frisselle Win Grand Am Rolex Montreal 200

Brian Frisselle and Max Angelelli celebrate their victory in the Grand-Am Rolex Montreal 200 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Rain and racing are an unpredictable mix, and at the Grand Am Rolex Montreal 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 29, it was weather forecasting that won the day, as team manager Wayne Taylor at Suntrust Racing kept his driver, Max Angelelli, out on rain tires for the final minutes when the rest of the field changed to slicks, gambling that the rain would return.

The gamble paid off, and Max Angelelli and co-driver Brian Frisselle brought the SunTrust car home in first place, thrusting the team back into the championship race.

“I was supposed to pit five laps before,” Max Angelelli explained. “Then they asked me, ‘Stay out, one more lap … one more lap …’ I said, ‘Okay, this is it, my tires are done. I’m coming in.’ Then I saw, on my screen [windshield], some water so I said, ‘It’s raining.’ So we gamble and decide to stay out, and it was raining.”

After an unfortunate late-race blowout at Watkins Glen left SunTrust fourteen points behind, most people wrote off the team’s championship possibilities. No one could have foreseen that both Gainsco and Telmex-Gannasi would finish off the pace. Now, with two races left, the championship is up for grabs, and SunTrust is right there to grab it.

“It’s incredible,” said Angelelli. “This is Grand Am. During the race, during the championship, you never know. Anything can happen to anybody, and anybody can win.”

Co-driver Brian Frisselle tried to help even after his driving stint was over.

“I tapped Wayne’s [team leader Wayne Taylor] shoulder and I said, ‘We’ve got to stay out. Look at the lap times. The rains [rain tires] are still quicker,’” Frisselle said after the race. “The team called the perfect race. They are the reason we won. I just have to hand it to the whole SunTrust team; it was the perfect race.”

Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in the #12 Penske Porsche had a great race. The Porsches have been allowed another 100 rpm, raising their redline to 9600, and for the first time the cars are competitive. Dumas qualified third, took second and then the lead in the first few laps, and ran out front many times throughout the race. The Penske car got caught out on slicks during the last rain shower, and had to pit for rain tires, which dropped them to second. Had the rain held off for another ten minutes, they would have scored their first Grand Am win.

Timo Bernhard in the Verizon Wireless Penske Porsche, felt that the race had been theirs, and that they lost the gamble and the race, more than being beaten by another team.

“It was very difficult. I went out after Romain. It was raining, but he decided to put slicks for me, it was perfect we made a good gap to the 99 car. Then it was raining again, we came in for rains. Then it was dry we came in for dries; at the end it rains again … It was a big gambling. In the end, great job from Penske, and from the Verizon Wireless team. We made a P2 position, a podium; our third podium this year. But this victory was ours. But anyway …“

Co-driver Romain Dumas was pleased with the performance adjustments made by the series’ stewards to the Porsche: “It’s the first time, today, that I was able to pass the #1 or the #99. This never happens this year, so it’s a big difference.”

Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in the #99 Gainsco Riley-Pontiac battled the Penske Porsche through most of the race, trading the lead several times. The Gainsco team also got caught out by the weather; they pitted for slicks on lap 54, only to have the rain return on lap 58. They ran as long as they could, trying to get past the Penske Porsche before pitting, but it didn’t matter.

That final stop to switch back to rain tires left them almost a lap down. Alex Gurney didn’t give up, though. On the final lap, even after Angelelli had taken the checkered flag, Gurney forced his way past Ricky Taylor in the Lennox/Beyer Racing Chevrolet Riley, earning a podium position and enough championship points to move into the lead.

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the Telmex-Ganassi Lexus Riley seemed to be a bit off the pace throughout the race. For the first 33 laps—until the rain returned—Pruett seemed content to circle in third, ten seconds behind the intense battle between Dumas and Fogarty. Thenf a number of bad guesses about tires—going to wets when the rain was about to stop, and then deciding to pit for slicks, just before the rain started again, dropped the car back to midfield. The car ended up in tenth. The team started the race four points ahead of the Gainsco team; they finished five points behind, tied with the SunTrust team.

Robin Liddell, Andy Davis Win GT

Robin Liddell and Andy Davis, driving the Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R, managed to outlast the competition to take the win in GT, moving the team into second in the points standings.

The usually dominant Farnsbacher Loles Porsches, which excel in the wet, faced fierce competition. Points leader Dirk Werner had mechanical troubles, compounded by an off-road excursion, and never found the pace, finishing sixth ofwerall behind teammate Brian Sellers. Tom Sutherland in the Racer’s Edge Mazda put in a great performance, but the car dropped back due to a long pit stop as Dane Cameron took over as driver.

Then, as the rain returned, Sylvain Tremblay in the SpeedSource Mazda spun hard into the wall while leading in GT, and had to retire. This left Robin Liddell in the lead, and he never relinquished it, though the battles behind him were fierce.

Robin Liddell said the driving conditions were worse than they looked.

“It was absolutely horrendous, some of the hardest conditions I’ve driven in,” he said. “It was really tough. I’m really happy. The team did an awesome job. The car was really good. I made a couple mistakes in the wet. We stayed on slicks throughout; it was really tough to control the car.”

Co-driver Andrew Davis missed most of the rough weather. “I had it easy in my stint because it was only changing conditions at the start and then it started to dry out,” he explained. “Robin did an outstanding job. The guys worked so hard. We had to do a motor change yesterday … the entire team, what a great effort. Hats off to everybody at Stevenson. Great job.”

On to Utah

The Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Championship travels to Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah for the season’s penultimate race. The track is a high-speed, 4.486-mile, 24-turn road course, with plenty of passing zones and beautiful mountain backdrops. Please visit the Miller Motorsports Park Web site for ticket information.

 

 

Grand Am Rolex Daytona Prototypes Championship Points
	Driver	Team—Car	Pts.	Gap
1	Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty	GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley	274
3	Brian Frisselle, Max Angelelli	SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara	269	5
	Memo Rojas, Scott Pruett	Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley	269	5
7	Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard	Penske Racing Porsche Riley	248	26
9	Michael Valiante	Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley	242	32
10	Burt Frisselle	AIM Autosport Ford Riley	234	40

 

Grand Am Rolex GT Team Standings
	#	Team—Car		Pts.	Gap
1	87	Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3		304
2	57	Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R		276	28
3	07	Team Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R		269	35
4	66	TRG Porsche GT3		265	39
5	70	SpeedSource Mazda RX-8		253	51
Grand Am Rolex GT Driver Standings
	Driver		Team—Car	Pts.	Gap
1	Dirk Werner, Leh Keen		Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3	304
3	Kelly Collins		Team Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R	269	35
4	Andrew Davis		Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R	261	43
5	Nick Ham, Sylvain Tremblay		SpeedSource Mazda RX-8	253	51

 

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Montreal 200
	#	Class	Place in Class	Driver	Laps	Gap	Team—Car
1	10	DP	1	Max Angelelli	67		SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara
2	12	DP	2	Timo Bernhard	67	1:01.264	Penske Racing Porsche Riley
3	99	DP	3	Alex Gurney	67	1:10.339	GAINSCO/ Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley
4	13	DP	4	Ricky Taylor	67	1:32.340	Beyer Racing Chevrolet Riley
5	58	DP	5	Darren Law	66	1 LAP	Brumos Racing Porsche Riley
6	61	DP	6	Burt Frisselle	66	1 LAP	AIM Autosport Ford Riley
7	45	DP	7	Ryan Dalziel	66	1 LAP	Orbit Racing BMW Riley
8	6	DP	8	Michael Valiante	66	1 LAP	Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley
9	55	DP	9	Christophe Bouchut	66	1 LAP	Supercar Life Racing BMW Riley
10	01	DP	10	Memo Rojas	66	1 LAP	Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley
11	90	DP	11	Antonio Garcia	66	1 LAP	Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote
12	2	DP	12	Andy Wallace	65	2 Laps	Childress-Howard Motorsports Chevrolet Crawford
13	57	GT	1	Robin Liddell	64	3 Laps	Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R
14	66	GT	2	Andy Lally	64	3 Laps	TRG Porsche GT3
15	69	GT	3	Jeff Segal	64	3 Laps	SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
16	40	GT	4	Charles Espenlaub	64	3 Laps	Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8
17	86	GT	5	Bryan Sellers	64	3 Laps	Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3
18	87	GT	6	Dirk Werner	63	4 Laps	Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3
19	21	GT	7	Diego Alessi	63	4 Laps	Battery Tender/ MCM Racing Pontiac GTO.R
20	30	GT	8	Dane Cameron	62	5 Laps	Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8
21	65	GT	9	Craig Stanton	62	5 Laps	TRG Porsche GT3
22	07	GT	10	Paul Edwards	62	5 Laps	Team Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R
23	60	DP	13	Oswaldo Negri Jr	62	5 Laps	Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley
24	48	GT	11	Bryce Miller	48	19 Laps	Miller Barrett Racing Porsche GT3
25	70	GT	12	Sylvain Tremblay	45	22 Laps	SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
26	32	GT	13	Max Hyatt	31	36 Laps	PR1 Motorsports BMW M6
27	59	DP	14	JC France	15	52 Laps	Brumos Racing Porsche Riley
28	51	DP	15	John Farano	4	63 Laps	AIM Autosport Ford Riley
0	77	DP	16	Ambrose—Edwards	0		Doran Racing Ford Dallara