The Ganassi Riley-BMW finishes third despite a rev limiter problem
Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in their Ganassi Racing Riley-BMW Daytona Prototype finished third in the Grand-Am Rolex Series race on the 2.08-mile Belle Isle street circuit in Detroit. In the GT class, Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana finished fifth in their Turner Motorsport M3.
A pair of Action Express Corvette DPs finished first and second in the race; Joao Barbosa and Darren Law won, while their teammates David Donohue and Terry Borcheller finished second.
The Corvette DPs and the GT-winning Camaro of Jordan Taylor and Paul Edwards gave General Motors victories in both classes in a race run just down the road from GM world headquarters.
Rojas started fifth on the grid behind four Corvette Daytona prototypes. Both he and Pruett struggled with the car throughout the race, battling a problem that made the rev limiter kick in unpredictably. Despite this problem and the pace of the Corvette DPs the team made it to the podium in the two-hour race. Pruett ran alone in the waning laps, unable to challenge the Action Express cars but well ahead of the fourth place Corvette DP of Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. Ricky Taylor crashed the leading SunTrust Corvette DP into the pit wall as he exited after a stop in the second hour of the race. The car, co-driven by Max Angelelli, had won the two races run before the Detroit event.
Paul Dalla Lana started the Turner Motorsport M3 ninth in the GT class. Bill Auberlen moved the car up to fifth, but the M3 never challenged for the lead. The Mazda RX-8 of Jon Bomarito and Sylvain Tremblay finished second in class behind the Camaro of Taylor and Edwards.
Going into next weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio Pruett and Rojas are fourth in Daytona Prototype drivers’ points.—Brian S. Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org
