The No. 10 SunTrust Racing PontiacRiley team of Italian Max Angelelli and teammate Wayne Taylor earned itssecond Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series win of the 2004 season atDaytona International Speedway early Friday morning in the Paul Revere 250presented by Brumos Porsche (SPEED Channel, July 4, Noon ET).
Angelelli claimed the lead from the No. 20 CITGO-Howard-Boss MotorsportsPontiac Crawford of Andy Wallace on a Lap 59 restart following a crashinvolving reigning Daytona Prototype champion Terry Borcheller in the No. 54Kodak-Bell Motorsports Pontiac Doran and the No. 81 Rx.com/G&W MotorsportsBMW Doran of Cort Wagner. Angelelli led the remaining 11 laps and finished7.311 seconds ahead of Max Papis in the No. 01 CompUSA Chip Ganassi RacingLexus Riley to earn the win.
After starting seventh, Taylor claimed the lead for the first time on Lap23, and stayed in front until handing over to Angelelli on a Lap 30 pitstop. NASCAR star Tony Stewart then took the lead in the No. 20 machine andremained there until he pitted at the halfway point on Lap 35 when Wallacetook over and rejoined the race in third place.
It appeared that the No. 20 team's single-stop strategy may have paiddividends as all of the other leaders needed one more trip to the pits.However, when the full-course caution flag flew following the Borcheller/Wagner incident on Lap 54, the table was set for Angelelli's race-winningpass five laps later.
"Of course, I thought I could have caught Andy Wallace, my car was faster,"Angelelli said. "I'm happy I ran the fastest lap of the race. I was reallyscared when the caution came out. I knew they (Papis) had new tires, and mytires were pretty old, so I really pushed at the end. I didn't know if I wasmuch quicker."
The triumph was Angelelli's first at Daytona International Speedway, and wasTaylor's second DIS victory, as he was an overall winner in the 1996 Rolex24 At Daytona. It was also Taylor and Angelelli's first win since taking theFood City 250 at Phoenix in April.
"Once we got in the qualifying, we concentrated on getting in the racesetup," Taylor said. "It's one thing being the fastest in every session, itcounts when you get the checkered flag. It's been a long time - it's verysatisfying. Winning again at Daytona is great."
Scott Pruett started from the pole and led twice during his stint beforehanding off to co-driver Papis as they attempted to score their thirdconsecutive win. Papis led twice himself, but dropped to third during hisfinal pit stop on Lap 54. The Italian claimed second place from Wallace onLap 61 but could advance no further.
"I gave it everything I could," Papis said. "Today was a great job foreveryone on the team. I guess that's how you win the championship. If youdon't finish first, you finish second. We have some work to do, but we knowwhere to work, and we've made a lot of progress. We were pretty good in theinfield; we had to work in the other direction."
The second place result was enough to keep Papis and Pruett atop the DaytonaPrototype championship standings at the season's halfway point. The No. 01teammates now lead Angelelli and Taylor by 11 points, 183-172.
"Those guys (in the No. 10) didn't miss a beat," Pruett said. "The 10 carhas been our rival all year long; we've been trading it back and forth. Butwe're in it for the championship. It's hard to race these guys head to headbecause of the engine differences, but they've made some mistakes and we'vetaken advantage of them. When they don't, we'll finish second, and make ahard run for the championship."
After losing the lead, Wallace fell back as far as sixth place late in therunning. However, he battled his way back to third on the final lap for hisand Stewart's second-consecutive third-place Daytona Prototype finish atDaytona.
"I couldn't really charge at the end," Wallace said. "There was nothing leftwith my tires. It was too hot, and I wore them out with 15-20 laps to go. Iknew I was pretty much dead in the water. I just had to see how fast I couldgo. I doubt if I could have held off Angelelli.
Stewart admitted that the Paul Revere 250 was somewhat of a learningexperience, and he will get another chance to score his first sports carvictory when he joins Wallace in the No. 20 machine again in the theglen.com200, Round 8 of the 12-race 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series.
"That yellow didn't help us at all," Stewart said. "The one-stop strategywould have worked if it went green the rest of the way. It's an easy car todrive. This car has got such a good balance to it, that it's not one thatyou feel you need to fight. It's very driver-friendly. I'm looking forwardto racing this car again with Andy at Watkins Glen."
The No. 20 machine was the first of three Howard-Boss Motorsports PontiacCrawfords to finish inside the top-six positions. Elliott Forbes-Robinsonand Butch Leitzinger wheeled the No. 4 Howard-Boss Motorsports machine to afourth place result, while Milka Duno and Jan Lammers brought the No. 2CITGO-Howard-Boss Motorsports car home in sixth place. The No. 58 Red BullBrumos Racing Porsche Fabcar-which started second-finished fifth in thehands of David Donohue and Darren Law.
AUBERLEN CONTINUES GT WIN STREAK; MOVES INTO FIRST-PLACE TIE IN POINTSIn the GT category, points leader Boris Said's move from the No. 21Prototype Technology Group BMW M3 to the team's similar No. 22 machine paiddividends for his former co-driver, Bill Auberlen. By staying in the No. 21machine, Auberlen continued his GT win streak by taking his fifthconsecutive class victory with co-driver Justin Marks. Said and his newco-driver, Joey Hand, finished second allowing Auberlen to move into a tiein the class point standings with 186 markers apiece.
"This is the second time that I've won the Paul Revere 250 (the first wincame in 2002)," Auberlen said. "I really love it. Our car was a handful. ThePorsches had us covered on top speed. We had them covered on the infield. Wehad them covered on our driver lineup, our pit crew and our strategy. Wewere pretty bad in practice. I left it in the hands of the crew. They tunedthe car up. (They) turned it from a four-lap car into a 20-lap car, whichwas much easier to deal with in the race."
"We fought the same problem all week," said Marks who scored his first RolexSeries win. "It was difficult for us to get the power down in the corners.It was just real loose. We made a lot of changes before the race. Theexperience of the team made those changes the right ones. The car was thebest in the race and I just tried to stay in touch with the leaders and havethe car in a competitive position for when I gave it to my teammate."
NONNAMAKER CELEBRATES FIRST ROLEX SERIES CLASS WIN IN SGSIn a dominating performance, Super Grand Sport (SGS) polesitter WayneNonnamaker drove the No. 41 ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cupnearly flag-to-flag in the lead en route to his first career Rolex Seriesclass victory. Nonnamaker led all but two of the 70 laps and finished onelap ahead of SGS co-points leaders Marc Bunting and Andy Lally in the No. 38TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup.
"I'm pretty tired," Nonnamaker said. "The ORISON-Planet Earth MotorsportsPorsche just did an excellent job. The crew did an amazing job on the stops.We've got a good set-up here. We've had success in the Grand-Am Cup, nowwe've been able to translate that into the Rolex - this is our first win inthe Rolex. We're very excited and we're pumped for the rest of the year."
John Littlechild and Spencer Pumpelly co-drove the No. 37 TPC Racing PorscheGT3 Cup to its second-consecutive SGS podium and third of the season with athird place showing, and Joe Nonnamaker-who celebrated his 55th birthday onThursday-also drove the full, 70-lap distance by himself and finishedfourth.
