Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in their Ganassi Riley-BMW finished fifth in the Rolex Series race at Montreal; it was only the second time this season that they had not finished first or second.
However, fifth was enough to give them a near-lock on the title. They need to finish sixteenth in the Mid-Ohio finale and drive thirty minutes each to win their second consecutive Daytona Prototype drivers’ championship.
Rojas started seventh on the grid for the two-hour race, well off the pace of the pole-winning Alex Gurney/Jon Fogarty Riley-Chevrolet. When he pitted for the handoff to Pruett, he was running third. Rojas came in with damage to the right front of the car that had been sustained in a pair of minor collisions in traffic. The team repaired the damage with blue tape that was very visible on the white nose of the Riley-BMW for the balance of the race.
Pruett spent most of his stint in fifth, where he finished. The overall win went to Gurney and Fogarty. The Aim Autosport Riley-BMW of Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins started sixth and finished seventh after making a late-race stop to replace the nose of their car. (Text continues after photo)
Paul Dalla Lana and Billy Johnson in their Turner Motorsport GT-class M3 finished fourth in the GT class. Early in the race, Dalla Lana received a drive-through penalty for hitting and spinning the Camaro of GT points leaders Bill Lester and Jordan Taylor. The Camaro finished ninth. The class win went to the Stevenson Camaro of Robin Liddell/Ronnie Bremer, while second went to the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay/Jon Bomarito.
Going into the finale, Lester and Taylor hold a scant three-point lead over Brumos Porsche racers Leh Keen and Andrew Davis, with Tremblay and Bomarito third, another two points behind. Dalla Lana is next in points, still a contender for the championship.
The last race of the Grand-Am season will be run at Mid-Ohio on September 17.—Brian S. Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org. .
