Gurney, Fogarty Get Fourth Win at Utah Grand Am Race

Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty drove their Gainsco/Stallings Riley Pontiac to the team’s fourth Grand Am win at the Utah 250 at Miller Motorsports Park on September 19, 2009, earning an eight-point lead in the Grand Am championship standings.

The Gainsco car proved uncatchable, starting from the pole and leading every lap except for pit stops.

Through much of the first half of the race, the Gainsco car was challenged by the Verizon Penske Porsche Riley of Timo Bernhardt and Romain Dumas; it seemed the pair might finally be ready to take their first series win. Jon Fogarty in the Gainsco car and Bernhardt behind the wheel of the Porsche, led the rest of the field by as much as seventeen seconds, running their own private race. But driver error ended that contest.

A lap 28 yellow flag for debris brought the leaders into the pits, where Romain Dumas took over for Timo Bernhardt. Dumas stalled the Porsche leaving the pits, dropping the car to fifth overall.

When the race went green on lap 34, the first the cars on the track were the top three in the championship standing: Alex Gurney, who had taken over from Jon Fogarty in the Gainsco car, Max Angelelli in the SunTrust Dallara Ford and Scott Pruett in the Telmex/Chip Ganassi Riley Lexus.

The Gainsco car maintained a one- or two-second lead throughout the rest of the race. Alex Gurney made three phenomenal restarts after yellow flags, the only chances any other drivers had to catch him.

Behind Gurney, Scott Pruett and Max Angelelelli battled ferociously, trying to get the edge in championship points. Except for one brief bobble when Angelelli locked his brakes and Pruett was able to get along side, Angelelli drove a smooth and focused race and never gave Pruett a chance.

The second place finish gave Suntrust a two-point lead in the championship going into the season’s final race at Homestead on October 10.

Werner Blows Chance to Clinch GT Championship

GT offered up its usual action-filled spectacle, with door-banging, fender-bending and spins; not the most precise driving, but certainly spirited competition.

Dirk Werner in the championship-leading Farnsbacher-Loles Porsche took the lead from Sylvain Tremblay, Speedsource Mazda, but only held it for half-a-dozen laps. When most of the field pitted after the lap 28 yellow flag, three GT drivers—Jeff Segal, Andy Lally, and Paul Edwards—stayed out, gambling that the yellow would last long enough for them to pit after the other GT cars rejoined the race.

Because the overall race leader pitted and rejoined midpack, under Grand-Am rules, cars that pitted afterwards get a wave-by, allowing them to pass the whole field to get back behind the leader. Since the three drivers who remained out were ahead of those that pitted when the race leader rejoined, the three cars could pit and then pass the whole pack, gaining  nine-tenths of a lap lead over the whole GT field. (American Le Mans Series recently changed their yellow flag rules to prevent this, feeling it gave unfair advantage to cars which pitted later, and penalized other cars.)

Through the rest of the race, Dirk Werner pushed his Porsche through the pack, trying desperately to get ahead of the Paul Edwards in the Drinkin’ Mate Banner Pontiac, which was second in the championship. Once Werner passed Edwards, he had the championship won, regardless of where he finished overall.

However, Werner wanted to win the championship with a race win. He was not content to finish second in the race.

After the lap 47 restart, Werner sat third behind Robin Liddell’s Stevenson Pontiac and Andy Lally’s TRG Porsche. At this point the top six GT contenders were circulating nose-to-tail, pushing for any advantage.

Edwards finally forced his way past Lally; then Werner pushed past. Possibly Lally’s rear tires had gone off, as he couldn’t keep the pace. Meanwhile Charles Esplanaub in the Dempsey Mazda tried to push Pal Edwards off the track. Edwards pushed back, spinning Esplanaub. The bashing and battering let Jeff Segal in the Speedsource Mazda get by, putting Edwards fifth in class.

With Edwards no longer a threat Werner had simply to circulate with incident to win the championship. Instead, he pressed Liddell, getting up inside him on the final lap and trying to force his way through. The two cars came together, flattening Werner’s right front and Liddell’s left front tires. The two damaged cars limped around to finish sixth and seventh. Since Werner finished behind Edwards, Werner failed to earn enough points to clinch the championship. The championship is still up for grabs going into Homestead.

The Grand Prix of Miami, Grand Am’s final race of the 2009 season, starts at 1:00 p.m. on October 10 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Please visit the Homestead-Miami Speedway Web site for ticket details.

Daytona Prototype Standings
	Driver	Team	Pts.	Gap
1	Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty	GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing	309
3	Brian Frisselle, Max Angelelli	SunTrust Racing	301	-8
3	Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas	Chip Ganassi Racing	299	-10
Grand Touring Standings
	Driver	Team	Pts.
1	Dirk Werner, Leh Keen	Farnbacher Loles Racing	329
2	Kelly Collins (Paul Edwards–8)	Team Drinkin' Mate	299	-30
3	Andrew Davis (Robin Liddell–12)	Stevenson Motorsports	285	-44

 

Grand Am Utah 250 Final Results
	#	Class	Place in Class	Driver	Laps	Gap	Team/Car
1	99	DP	1	Alex Gurney	56		GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac-Riley
2	10	DP	2	Max Angelelli	56	1.264	SunTrust Racing Ford-Dallara
3	01	DP	3	Scott Pruett	56	1.529	Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus-Riley
4	12	DP	4	Romain Dumas	56	3.602	Penske Racing Porsche-Riley
5	61	DP	5	Burt Frisselle	56	8.724	AIM Autosport Ford-Riley
6	60	DP	6	Oswaldo Negri Jr	56	12.602	Michael Shank Racing Ford-Riley
7	59	DP	7	Joao Barbosa	56	23.513	Brumos Racing Porsche-Riley
8	13	DP	8	Ricky Taylor	56	30.15	Beyer Racing Chevrolet-Riley
9	58	DP	9	Darren Law	56	31.515	Brumos Racing Porsche-Riley
10	6	DP	10	Michael Valiante	56	31.867	Michael Shank Racing Ford-Riley
11	2	DP	11	Andy Wallace	56	1:12.58	Childress-Howard Motorsports Chevrolet-Crawford
12	69	GT	1	Jeff Segal	55	1 Lap	SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
13	66	GT	2	Andy Lally	55	1 Lap	TRG Porsche GT3
14	07	GT	3	Paul Edwards	55	1 Lap	Team Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R
15	32	GT	4	Max Hyatt	55	1 Lap	Miracle Sealants Team PR1 BMW M6
16	65	GT	5	Craig Stanton	55	1 Lap	TRG Porsche GT3
17	87	GT	6	Dirk Werner	54	2 Laps	Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3
18	57	GT	7	Robin Liddell	54	2 Laps	Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R
19	48	GT	8	Bryce Miller	54	2 Laps	Miller Barrett Racing Porsche GT3
20	70	GT	9	Sylvain Tremblay	54	2 Laps	SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
21	21	GT	10	Hal Prewitt	52	4 Laps	Pontiac GTO.R
22	40	GT	11	Charles Espenlaub	51	5 Laps	Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8
23	30	GT	12	Dane Cameron	43	13 Laps	Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8
24	86	GT	13	Wolf Henzler	29	27 Laps	Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3