GAINSCO Pontiac Wins Grand-Am Championship

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SALT LAKE CITY (Sept. 15, 2007) -- The GAINSCO Pontiac team with drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty won the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve Daytona Prototype championship Saturday at Miller Motorsport Park with an eighth-place finish.

The Riley-Mathews Pontiac won the race with the SAMAX Pontiac in second and the Krohn Pontiac in third, making it an all Pontiac DP podium. In GT, Paul Edwards, Kelly Collins and Andy Pilgrim drove their No. 07 Banner Pontiac GXP.R to the race victory.

With a single point lead entering the 1000k race, the GAINSCO Pontiac team had luck go its way toward the end of the event. Gurney took the lead immediately after the green flag waved, and was in a nose-to-tail battle for most of the event with the championship contending No. 01 Lexus in close pursuit. The No. 99 was running third around lap 115 when Fogarty, driving the No. 99, got together with the No. 01 resulting in flat tires on both cars. Fogarty limped his Pontiac Riley around the track, keeping the body work intact. The crew changed the tire and Gurney got in for the final stint. The No. 01 damaged its rear body work and had an extended pit stop. Both cars returned and were running within a few positions of each other with seven laps remaining. Contact again between the two cars on lap 132 resulted in the No. 01 getting a drive-through penalty, ending that team's championship aspirations with five laps left. The victory gives Pontiac the drivers, team and manufacturers championship in the DP class.

"We deserved the championship," Gurney said. "We broke all the records this year and had a really good car. The race was crazy, especially at the end. It got really dirty out there. I am disappointed with some of my fellow competitors.

“The car had a vibration toward the end. I just had to bring it home after the 01 got their penalty. In the end, we won the championship. Bob Stallings, together with Pontiac and Riley, we had the tools to win."

Fogarty noted that it was a “difficult championship.”

"The whole team was very focused this year,” Fogarty continued. “We had a fast car all season and we won seven races. Kyle Brannan, our team engineer, Bob Stallings with Pontiac power and the Riley chassis was the right combination for us this season. Bob is a great leader and really brought all of the pieces together to allow us to win this championship."

Following the skirmish between the No. 99 and the 01, it appeared the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac driven by Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen moved into a position to win the championship, being just three points behind coming into the race. Then, two laps later, on lap 117 the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac team's championship hopes were extinguished. A cut right-rear tire came apart and ignited a fire, ending that team's day at the pit lane entrance with Angelelli behind the wheel.

"We knew we did not have the quickest car for one lap, but we knew that we could race both of them over the longer distances," Angelelli said. "We had the strategy in our favor. Our car was good on used tires. We fought all day long on the track, and losing a race and a championship this way is not just. It's just awful. It's a bad feeling. It's going to take a long time for me to forget today and this result.”

GM Racing head Mark Kent said the entire GAINSCO did an “excellent job” this year.

"Bob Stallings assembled an excellent team and Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney really did the job behind the wheel,” Kent said. “The team had a tough run at Daytona, finishing in 22nd place, then came back over the course of the season to win seven races and 10 pole positions, making for a very solid year. They are well deserving of the championship."

Winning the race was the Riley-Mathews Pontiac with drivers Jim Mathews, Marc Goosens and Ryan Hunter-Reay. It marked the team's first win this season.

"This win is a long time coming," Mathews said. "Marc and Ryan drove a great race and as a team we were able to get our first win in the last race. We never put a wheel wrong and we didn't have any bad luck. The car never missed a beat; the Riley guys really had us hooked up. This is a nice way to go into the 2008 season."

In GT, Edwards started the No. 07 from the pole, the seventh of the season, and never looked back. The No. 07 car was never lost the lead during the event. The Banner team performed near perfect service in the pits, just adding fuel, tires and a fresh driver during the entire seven hours. The win put the duo of Collins and Edwards second in the season ending GT point standings. The pair logged two wins and six pole positions during the season.

"It went down to the last lap," Edwards said. "In the last three turns, the [No.] 85 and I came up on the slow [No.] 36 GTO. I went high and got in the marbles and then went low into the last turn and the 36 got into the 85 and we won. The car was good all race, just gas, tires and a driver. The Banner crew prepared a great car and it really ran well here all weekend. We led every practice session, got the pole and won the race. A great day!"

In the No. 06 team GXP.R, Leighton Reese, Tim Lewis Jr. and Johnny O'Connell were running toward the front of the pack, as high as second in the middle of the race. Then, on lap 74, O'Connell pitted the Pontiac for a right-rear shock and half-shaft change, relegating the trio to a 16th-place finish.

"We had a tough run today," Lewis Jr. said. "The opening stint with Leighton was pretty good, making our way up to fourth. I got in and things started to happen at the rear. I think we broke a shock and then things started to get worse. We had an extended pit stop when Johnny was in the car, which put us out of contention. It was a tough way to end the year."

The 2008 Grand-Am schedule will kick-off with the traditional Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Jan. 26 - 27.

Grand-Am Top 10 DP Miller Finishers:
1. Goosens, Mathews, Hunter-Reay, Pontiac Riley
2. Enge, Szekeres, Dalziel, Pontiac Riley
3. Braun, Jonsson, Pontiac Riley
4. Lewis, Lux, Lexus Riley
5. Long, Bergmeister, Rockenfeller, Porsche Crawford
6. Haywood, France, Borcheller, Porsche Riley
7. James, Pew, Zogaib, Lexus Riley
8. Gurney, Fogarty, Pontiac Riley
9. Pruett, Rojas, Duran, Lexus Riley
10. Negri, Patterson, Wilson, Lexus Riley

Grand-Am top 10 GT Miller Finishers:
1. Collins, Edwards, Pilgrim, Pontiac GXP.R
2. Farnbacher, Baas, Keen, Porsche GT3
3. Miller, Werner, Henzler, Porsche GT3
4. Aramengol, Longhi, Haskell, Mazda RX8
5. Law, Wilkins, Lacey, Porsche GT3
6. Dumoulin, Wilson, De Quesada, Porsche GT3
7. Davis, Johnson, Wagner, Porsche GT3
8. O'Connell, Speakman, Roush, Porsche GT3
9. Nonnamaker, Nonnamaker, Nonnamaker, Corvette
10. Foster, Dempsey, Espenlaub, Mazda RX8

. GAINSCO wins Daytona Prototype team and drivers championship.
. GAINSCO Pontiac has seven wins this season.
. GAINSCO Pontiac has 10 pole positions, nine in a row.
. GAINSCO Pontiac has started on the pole or the front row every race.
. SunTrust Pontiac driver Max Angelelli finished third in the championship.
. SunTrust Pontiac two wins on the season.
. Pontiac won 10 DP races in 2007.
. Pontiac 13 for 14 DP pole positions for the year.
. Pontiac won three GT races.
. Pontiac six poles in GT.
. Pontiac DP poles, Magnussen 1, Braun 2, Gurney 2, Fogarty 8.
. Pontiac won manufacturers, drivers and team titles in 2007.
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