Pruett Wins Thriller, Joins Rojas In Lone Star Le Mans Win

AUSTIN, TX – Scott Pruett prevailed in a three-car shootout Saturday at Circuit of The Americas, showing speed when it counted to join Memo Rojas in scoring their third victory of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season for the No. 01 Telcel Ford EcoBoost/Riley.

Pruett took the lead with 33 minutes remaining, and then held off a strong stretch run by both Joao Barbosa and Alex Brundle to win the Lone Star Le Mans for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

“I took some big chances at the end,” said Pruett, who scored his 59th career victory in major sports car competition. “I knew they were coming, but when you see victory in your grasp, you take big chances. Sometimes they pay off.”

Pruett took the checkered flag 2.336 seconds ahead of Brundle, who joined Gustavo Yacaman in the debut of the No. 42 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2/Honda. Barbosa finished 11.016 seconds behind in third, ending a two-race winning streak for the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP started by Christian Fittipaldi.

“There was a lot more competition out there than met the eye today,” said Ganassi, whose team won earlier this year at both Sebring and Long Beach. “There were a lot of strong cars, especially the new Ligier. I’ve got to hand it to Pruett and Rojas. It was a close race.”

The moment of truth came with six minutes remaining, when the leaders caught heavy GT traffic. Pruett found a way through, while Barbosa and Brundle battled side-by-side caught in the pack. By the time Brundle passed Barbosa and they cleared the lapped cars, Pruett had the advantage he needed to make his dash to the checkers. It was all he had, as the 54-year-old Californian ran out of fuel on his cool down lap.

“Honestly, we had nothing for Pruett after our tussle with Barbosa near the end – he was too far away,” Brundle said. “I’m delighted by how the car ran this weekend. It was great work by OAK Racing and Honda. We’ll come back strong and fight hard at Road Atlanta.”

The third-place finish unofficially extended Action Express Racing’s lead to 22 points over Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky and Jordan Taylor, who finished seventh in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP. Fittipaldi and Barbosa have accumulated 316 points, to 294 for the Taylors. Another point back, with 293, are Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook, who finished sixth in the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP.

“That was a real tough race,” Barbosa said. “We had a great strategy, and everything worked perfectly. We were in the fight until the end. Unfortunately, the rear tires started to go away and traffic was hectic out there and cars started pushing me around. I knew where the 10 and 90 were, so I decided that this was not our fight, I had to stay safe and do what I could to bring as many points as I could for the championship.”

Ricky Taylor, Yacaman and Valiante all had close calls early in the race. Taylor went wide in turn 1 on the first lap of racing after slight contact with Yacaman, and the resulting pit stop had the team playing catch-up for the remainder of the race. On the restart following the lone caution period on lap 23, Yacaman spun after contact with Valiante, who was assessed a drive-through penalty for the incident.

While Sean Rayhall and Luis Diaz took their second consecutive Prototype Challenge victory in the No. 25 8Star Motorsports Takis/Speedsters ORECA FLM09, Colin Braun and Jon Bennett clinched the drivers’ championship with one race remaining with a second-place finish in the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA FLM09.

The race ultimately came down to a battle between Rayhall and Braun. Rayhall spun while leading with more than one hour remaining, and Braun was assessed a drive-through penalty following the incident. That gave the PC class lead to RSR Racing driver Jack Hawksworth, but he ran out of fuel entering pit road on lap 52. At that point, Rayhall had worked his way back from fifth place to take a lead he never relinquished.

“That’s why they call it endurance racing,” said Rayhall, who scored his first victory at Virginia International Raceway one race ago. “We got spun out, and came back to the front. Good strategy put us there. I can’t put into words how excited we are.”

Renger van der Zande entered the race mathematically eligible for the title, but the driver of the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Martini ORECA FLM09 started by Mirco Schultis was eliminated despite a third-place finish.

“I’m super happy for the team – Colin and I have had a pretty successful year, and it’s nice to clinch the drivers’ championship,” said CORE autosport owner Bennett, who joined Braun in winning their first career driving titles. “At the end of the day, we’ll do the best we can at Petit and see how the points work out at the end of the day. It’s an important race.”

CORE autosport takes an unofficial 11-point lead in the battle for a fourth consecutive team championship, leading 8Star Motorsports 288-277 entering the season-ending Petit Le Mans. CORE won the final three consecutive PC team titles in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.

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After a late-race mechanical failure ended the day for the race-leading No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy, the No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R of Jonathan Bomarito capitalized by taking the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class lead and finishing off a one-two finish for SRT Motorsports.

With their second victory of the season, Bomarito and co-driver Kuno Wittmer unofficially took over the GTLM points lead, 300-293, over Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia heading into in the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta on Oct. 4.

“When you come to Texas, you go big,” said Wittmer, who started the race from the pole. “Winning one-two is quite a gift.

“We started the season saying we’ve got to win this thing. Given the hard, fierce battles that we have on track with the world-class drivers and the state-of-the-art teams out there, (the championship) is still going to come down to Petit Le Mans. This thing is far from being won.”

Enjoying a sizeable lead, Tandy seemed poised to pick up his second victory of the season in the No. 911 Porsche, but lost drive with 18 minutes remaining. That put Bomarito into the lead and he went on to win by 1.267 seconds over teammate Marc Goossens. It was the first one-two race sweep for Dodge Viper since returning to major-league sports car racing in 2012.

All of the podium finishers used Michelin tires. Michelin clinched the inaugural TUDOR Championship Tire Manufacturers’ title on Saturday.

Goossens and co-driver Dominik Farnbacher matched their season-best finish of second in the No. 91 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, finishing 20 seconds ahead of the third-place duo of Patrick Long and Michael Christensen in the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.

Struggling for much of the day, the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R of Garcia and Jan Magnussen entered the race with the points lead, but finished ninth and now trails by seven points with one race remaining. Goossens and Farnbacher enter the 10-hour season finale 17 points out of the lead, 300-283.

“Every single driver in GTLM goes into the year, in their mind, thinking and knowing they can win the championship,” said Bomarito. “To be doing it against those quality names, teams, and manufacturers is special.”

Texas native Ben Keating joined co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen in scoring the GT Daytona (GTD) victory. It was the second win this season for the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R team and the third podium in the last four races.

With 31 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 45-minute race, Bleekemolen passed the No. 300 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 of Dane Cameron and cruised to a one-lap victory over the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America of Andy Lally and John Potter.

“Home is two hours away from here,” said Keating, who lives in nearby Tomball and owns nine dealerships in the Houston area. “It is definitely sweet to win on home turf with so many customers and friends supporting, in a Viper. I have to tip my hat to Jeroen, just an incredible drive. There were a few guys who spun and a few who had damage and we were able to keep it clean and work our way up there. It’s just really sweet.”

Coming into Saturday’s race, five drivers representing three teams and three different manufacturers were tied in the GTD championship race. A third-place finish for Cameron and co-driver Markus Palttala makes Cameron the GTD points leader entering the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda.

Cameron unofficially holds a four-point lead, 275-271, over No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America co-drivers Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen, who finished fifth in the race. The No. 555 REVO/Robert Graham Ferrari 458 Italia of Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell finished eighth. Bell and Sweedler enter Road Atlanta trailing by seven points, 275-268.

The season-ending Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta is also the final round of the four-race Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.