Backstretch Motorsports

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 8, 2008) - One week after scoring an improbable first victory in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, AIM Autosport made victory number two look easy Friday night at Watkins Glen International.

Brian Frisselle and Mark Wilkins led 78 of the 82 laps to win the Crown Royal 200, Round 12 of the 2008 Rolex Series season showcasing the Daytona Prototypes.

Wilkins took the checkered flag in last Saturday’s Montreal 200 only .064 seconds ahead of Antonio Garcia to win the closest finish in series history. Friday evening, Wilkins won by 1.986 seconds over Alex Gurney.

Gurney and Jon Fogarty finished second in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley, cutting the championship lead of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to 49 points with three races remaining. The six-time race winning No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley was never a factor, placing 13th - two laps down - for the team’s worst finish of the season after scoring eight podium finishes in 10 races.

Law and David Donohue finished third in the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley, followed by Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen in the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Porsche Riley and the No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola of Ricardo Zonta and Nic Jonsson.

Frisselle started from the pole and led throughout his 30-lap shift. Wilkins took over and led the 31st lap in the pits, before being passed by Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 16 Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Pontiac Coyote. Fittipaldi pitted for a driver change four laps later, turning the lead back over to Wilkins.

Wilkins had built up a 19.939-second lead over Gurney on lap 56, when caution waved to retrieve the stalled No. 4 AT&T Childress-Howard Motorsports Pontiac Crawford of Andy Wallace.

On the restart, Eric van de Poele lost control, spun in turn 11 and slammed the tire wall, nearly flipping the No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola.

That bunched the field for the restart with 19 laps/32 minutes remaining, but Wilkins pulled away. He was passed by Joao Barbosa in the late stages of the race, but the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley was two laps down.

The No. 91 Bob Stallings/Riley-Matthews Motorsports Pontiac Riley was eliminated in a first lap incident when the No. 47 Brach’s/CDOC Ford Dallara of Ricky Taylor was turned around in turn one and was T-boned by Jim Matthews. It marked the fifth time in six races that the Riley-Matthews team was involved in an incident, threatening to drop Matthews and Marc Goossens out of the top 10 in the point standings.

The next action for the Grand-Am Rolex Series will be held August 23 at Infineon Raceway, featuring the Daytona Prototypes sharing an event weekend with the IRL IndyCar Series. The next combined Daytona Prototype/GT race will be August 31, the Supercar Life 250 at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Crown Royal 200 - DP Only
Watkins Glen International - Short Course
Watkins Glen, NY

Official Race Results
POS NO. CLASS CLASS POS. DRIVER TEAM/CAR LAPS BEST LAP (#) AVG MPH SPONSORS
1 61 DP 1 Frisselle / Wilkins AIM Autosport / Ford Riley 82 1:06.437 70 111.210 Exchange Traded Gold, Mike Direct Connect
2 99 DP 2 Fogarty / Gurney GAINSCO/ Bob Stallings Racing / Pontiac Riley 82 1:06.577 71 111.177 GAINSCO Auto Insurance
3 58 DP 3 Donohue / Law Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 82 1:06.368 71 111.172 Brumos Porsche, Kendall
4 23 DP 4 Auberlen / Hand Alex Job Racing / Porsche Riley 82 1:06.179 71 111.134 Ruby Tuesday
5 76 DP 5 Jonsson / Zonta Krohn Racing / Pontiac Lola 82 1:06.454 75 111.005
6 16 DP 6 Fittipaldi / Garcia Cheever Racing / Pontiac Coyote 82 1:06.556 79 110.985 Crown Royal Cask No. 16
7 10 DP 7 Angelelli / Valiante SunTrust Racing / Pontiac Dallara 82 1:06.318 82 110.980 SunTrust
8 60 DP 8 Negri / Patterson Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 81 1:06.228 77 109.759 Hospital for Special Surgery
9 6 DP 9 James / Pew Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 81 1:06.443 75 109.604
10 77 DP 10 Gidley / Jaeger Doran Racing / Ford Dallara 81 1:06.207 77 109.600 Kodak
11 7 DP 11 Plumb / Sigal Rum Bum Racing / BMW Riley 81 1:07.084 69 109.469 Rum Bum, Big Vision Miami, Caramba Tequila
12 59 DP 12 Barbosa / France Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 80 1:05.908 78 108.480 Brumos Porsche, Kendall
13 01 DP 13 Pruett / Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley 80 1:06.706 74 108.147 TELMEX
14 09 DP 14 Camirand / Cosmo Spirit of Daytona Racing / Porsche Coyote 80 1:06.915 78 108.039
15 3 DP 15 Lester / Lewis Southard Motorsports / Lexus Riley 78 1:07.351 65 105.156
16 22 DP 16 de Quesada / Dumoulin / Gabel Alegra Motorsports / Porsche Riley 77 1:08.410 75 103.688 Gatorade, Today MD
17 47 DP 17 Frisselle / Taylor Doran Racing / Ford Dallara 75 1:07.364 66 101.095 Brach’s, CDOC
18 75 DP 18 Krohn / van de Poele Krohn Racing / Pontiac Lola 53 1:07.139 35 103.124
19 4 DP 19 Lally / Wallace Childress-Howard Motorsports / Pontiac Crawford 42 1:07.781 34 89.940 AT&T
20 91 DP 20 Goossens / Matthews Bob Stallings/ Riley-Matthews / Pontiac Riley 0 0 0.000 Riley-Matthews Motorsports