Ganassi is taken out on lap one
Wayne Nonnamaker and Dane Cameron, driving the Team Sahlen Riley-BMW, upheld the marque’s honor in the two hour Grand-Am Rolex Series race on Belle Isle in Detroit, finishing fourth in the Daytona Prototype class in a race won by Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor in a Corvette DP.
Rojas was sent into the wall by Gustavo Yacaman in his Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford. Before the incident was over he was hit again by the second Shank prototype, driven by John Pew. Both Rojas and Pew were out of the race; Yacaman got a drive through penalty for the incident and soldiered on, eventually finishing sixth in the car he shared with Antonio Pizzonia.
The Team Sahlen Riley-BMWs stayed out of trouble; #42, started by Wayne Nonnamaker, moved up, while #43 circulated back in the DP pack. Cameron moved #42 into contention, running as high as second at one point and finishing fourth behind the Angelelli/Taylor Corvette DP, the Action Express Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, and the Riley-Ford of Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow. The #43 Sahlen prototype driven by Will and Joe Nonnamaker finished ninth.
Robin Liddell and John Edwards won the GT class in their Stevenson Camaro, making it two class wins for Chevrolet in a race run in the shadow of the GM building. It was the third consecutive win for Liddell and Edwards. Late in the race Edwards had to hold off a hard-charging pair of Ferraris driven by Allesandro Balzan and Jeff Segal; he crossed the line just .416 seconds ahead of Balzan. Gunther Schaldach and Michael Marsal finished eighth in class in their Turner Motorsport M3; their teammates Paul Dalla Lana and Bill Auberlen were classified tenth, but were not running at the end of the race.
Angelelli and Taylor took the DP points lead as a result of their win in Detroit. Pruett and Rojas dropped to fourth going into the next race at Mid-Ohio on June 15.—Brian S. Morgan
