Backstretch Motorsports

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas extended their Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 point lead Saturday with their second straight win in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The duo, who led every practice session leading up to the race only to qualify third, combined to lead 51 laps overall (Pruett 41 of them) in the 99-lap (two-hour and 45-minute event) and are now two-for-two on the young season. Pruett and Rojas were also part of the quartet that won January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

It also marked Pruett’s record-extending 16th Daytona Prototype victory; Rojas now has three.

Rojas started third and then fell back to fourth after a first-lap bump. He then moved into third with a dramatic four-abreast pass. He moved into the lead on Lap 12 and held the position before pitting on Lap 22 and handing the car over to Pruett.

The series all-time leader in wins then carved his way through the field. Starting in seventh, he moved into fourth by Lap 42 and then took over the lead on Lap 45. Pruett held the point position through Lap 63 before making his final pit stop. He re-entered the race in the fourth position. By Lap 76, Pruett passed Oswaldo Negri for second place and then re-gained the lap as he dove below the #23 Porsche heading onto the straight-away and took the lead into turn one. Only a pair of full-course cautions could slow Pruett from there on out as he went on to a 1.645-second victory.

Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team drivers Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand earned a well-fought second place finish in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Round Two race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as part of the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami.

Starting from the inside of row four in the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche-powered Crawford Daytona Prototype, Auberlen quickly took the strategy of letting the race come to him instead of being too aggressive early in the race. This race strategy came to fruition, as the defending race winner had to deal with five full course cautions during his 45-lap stint. During this time, he moved from seventh to fifth by lap 22.

The duo also led the race in the Ruby Tuesday Racing Championship Racing Team Porsche Crawford before Pruett passed them for the lead.

Rounding out the Daytona Prototype podium were Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, putting three different manufacturers in the top three.

Five Daytona Prototypes led overall and nine Daytona Prototype cars finished on the lead lap.

In GT, the No. 07 Banner Racing Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards won from the pole and overall, the team finished 10th. The two combined to lead 51 circuits, with Edwards leading a class-high 30.

Tim George Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly, in their first sprint race together as co-drivers, finished second in the No. 67 TRG Gleukos/Monster Cable Porsche GT3. It marks the second straight runner-up finish for TRG in the event and second this season after the team’s No. 66 took second at Daytona.

Banner Racing also rounded out the podium with a third-place finish. Team owner Leighton Reese and co-driver Jan Magnussen started second-to-last on the grid following an engine change following Friday’s qualifying session, but quickly charged through the field and ended up in third.

Nine cautions slowed the race’s pace to 82.246 mph.

GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami
Homestead Miami Speedway
Homestead, FL

POS NO. CLASS CLASS POS. DRIVER TEAM/CAR LAPS BEST LAP (#) AVG MPH SPONSORS
1 01 DP 1 Pruett / Rojas Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley 99 59:59.999 0 82.246 TELMEX
2 23 DP 2 Auberlen / Hand Alex Job Racing / Porsche Crawford 99 1:14.551 98 82.232 Ruby Tuesday
3 60 DP 3 Negri / Patterson Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 99 59:59.999 0 82.222
4 91 DP 4 Goossens / Matthews Bob Stallings/ Riley-Matthews / Pontiac Riley 99 59:59.999 0 82.216 Riley-Matthews Motorsports
5 7 DP 5 Plumb / Sigal Sigalsport / BMW Riley 99 59:59.999 0 82.205 Rum Bum
6 99 DP 6 Fogarty / Gurney Bob Stallings/ Riley-Matthews / Pontiac Riley 99 1:14.764 99 82.200 GAINSCO Auto Insurance
7 59 DP 7 Barbosa / France Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 99 59:59.999 0 82.191 Brumos Porsche, Kendall
8 61 DP 8 Frisselle / Wilkins AIM Autosport / Ford Riley 99 1:15.651 99 82.151 Aim Autosport
9 3 DP 9 Lester / Lewis Southard Motorsports / Lexus Riley 99 59:59.999 0 81.984
10 07 GT 1 Collins / Edwards Banner Racing / Pontiac GXP.R 99 59:59.999 0 81.875 Banner Engineering
11 67 GT 2 George Jr / Pumpelly TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 99 59:59.999 0 81.861 Gleukos, Monster Cable, WIN Institute, 944 Magazine, Wheels Boutique
12 06 GT 3 Magnussen / Reese Banner Racing / Pontiac GXP.R 99 59:59.999 0 81.852 Banner Engineering
13 87 GT 4 Farnbacher / Werner Farnbacher Loles / Porsche GT3 Cup 99 59:59.999 0 81.850
14 70 GT 5 Ham / Tremblay SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 99 59:59.999 0 81.813 Castrol Syntec, Mazda
15 72 GT 6 Aschenbach / Lewis Jr Autohaus Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R 99 59:59.999 0 81.807 Autohaus Motorsports
16 50 GT 7 Empringham / Farano Blackforest Motorsports / Ford Mustang 99 59:59.999 0 81.803
17 69 GT 8 Assentato / Segal SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 99 1:20.629 89 81.776 FXDD
18 68 GT 9 Sellers / Valentine TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 99 59:59.999 0 81.768 CGR, Maxter, Rotax, MBA Group, F1 Air
19 15 GT 10 Dumoulin / Nastasi Blackforest Motorsports / Ford Mustang 99 59:59.999 0 81.737 USG Sheetrock, Guardian, DeWalt
20 2 DP 10 Dalziel / Zogaib SAMAX / BMW Riley 98 1:15.100 98 81.356 Miami Garage, Cigarette Racing
21 76 DP 11 Jonsson / Zonta Krohn Racing / Pontiac Lola 98 1:14.877 98 81.343
22 75 DP 12 Krohn / Moreno / van de Poele Krohn Racing / Pontiac Lola 98 1:15.432 98 81.326
23 21 GT 11 Alessi / Seyffarth Matt Connolly Motorsports / Pontiac GTO.R 98 59:59.999 0 80.973 P1 Groupe, CAT Sound, Dekra, APCO, Davide Cenci, Barbetti, ERREMME
24 86 GT 12 Keen / Lux Farnbacher Loles / Porsche GT3 Cup 98 59:59.999 0 80.878
25 09 DP 13 Camirand / Cosmo Spirit of Daytona Racing / Porsche Coyote 97 1:16.173 97 80.503
26 66 GT 13 Ballou / Miller TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 97 1:22.100 97 80.085 Marquis Jet, Mitchell Rubber, Resorts International, IPC, Total Lubricants
27 40 GT 14 Dempsey / Foster Hyper Sport / Mazda RX-8 97 1:21.938 87 80.033
28 29 GT 15 Gabel / Garcia Alegra Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 97 1:22.043 86 80.021 Gatorade, TodayMD
29 32 GT 16 Forest / Merrill PR1 Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R 96 59:59.999 0 80.561
30 10 DP 14 Angelelli / Valiante SunTrust Racing / Pontiac Dallara 96 1:14.763 96 79.693 SunTrust
31 74 GT 17 Lazzaro / Safina / Skea Safina Racing with Mitchum Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 96 59:59.999 0 79.261 Florida Marlins
32 88 GT 18 Lacey / Long Farnbacher Loles / Porsche GT3 Cup 94 1:22.020 94 77.595
33 26 GT 19 Jacalone / Jacalone Gotham Competition / Porsche GT3 Cup 94 59:59.999 0 77.482 Jacalone & Sons
34 43 GT 20 Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker Team Sahlen / Corvette 90 59:59.999 0 74.190 HRPWorld
35 16 DP 15 Bobbi / Garcia Cheever Racing / Pontiac Coyote 89 1:19.758 89 81.775 Crown Royal Cask No. 16
36 6 DP 16 James / Pew Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 89 1:52.268 89 73.899
37 77 DP 17 Gidley / Jaeger Doran Racing / Ford Dallara 87 1:20.129 87 71.948 Kodak
38 80 GT 21 Heylen / Johnson Synergy Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 81 59:59.999 0 82.846
39 9 DP 18 Smith / Tuttle Tuttle Team Racing / Pontiac Riley 80 1:17.209 80 83.214 Tuttle Team Racing
40 42 GT 22 Nonnamaker / Sahlen Team Sahlen / Corvette 71 9:12.090 71 77.586 HRPWorld
41 55 GT 23 Tucker / Zabinski Level 5 Motorsports / Ferrari 430 Challenge 59 59:59.999 0 50.321 Boardwalk Ferrari, Priority Logistics, Getco Biofuel
42 58 DP 19 Donohue / Law Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 59 1:14.002 59 48.874 Brumos Porsche
43 57 GT 24 Davis / Liddell Stevenson Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R 56 1:40.155 56 82.018 Stevenson Automotive, BryanMark Financial Group
44 22 GT 25 Stanton / de Quesada Alegra Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 55 1:25.759 55 80.747 Gatorade, TodayMD
45 30 GT 26 Stone / Thorne Racers Edge Motorsports / Mazda RX-8 44 59:59.999 0 46.983

* - Withdrew