The leaders of all three Grand AmericanRolex Sports Car Series classes maintained their position atop theirrespective driver standings following last week's Paul Revere 250 presentedby Brumos Porsche at Daytona International Speedway-the halfway point of the12-race 2004 calendar.
Following a second-place finish in the Paul Revere 250, No. 01 CompUSA ChipGanassi Racing Lexus Riley teammates Scott Pruett and Max Papis continue tolead the Daytona Prototype standings with 183 points. However, No. 10SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley co-drivers Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor usedtheir victory last week at Daytona to close the gap to 11 points behind theGanassi duo. CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford driver AndyWallace stands alone in fifth place with 164 points, while Wallace's CITGOHoward-Boss Motorsports teammate Milka Duno is sixth with 151 markers.
Defending Daytona Prototype champion Terry Borcheller, who drives the No. 54Kodak-Bell Motorsports Pontiac Doran is tied for seventh with No. 81Rx.com/G&W Motorsports BMW Doran driver Cort Wagner with 148 points apiece.No. 27 Doran-Lista Racing Lexus Doran driver Didier Theys occupies ninth inthe driver standings with 145 points, and No. 02 CompUSA Chip Ganassi RacingLexus Riley pilot Jimmy Morales is 10th with 144 markers.
The No. 01Lexus team also leads the No. 10 Pontiac squad in the teamstandings, 183-172, with the No. 2 CITGO-Howard-Boss Motorsports team thirdwith 159 points. Pontiac leads the Daytona Prototype engine manufacturerstandings, 202-196 over Lexus, and BMW is third with 147. Riley tops thechassis manufacturer standings with a 192-178 advantage over Doran followedby Crawford with 177 points.
Perhaps the biggest points news at Daytona came out of the GT category,where No. 21 Prototype Technology Group BMW M3 driver Bill Auberlen won thePaul Revere 250 along with new co-driver Justin Marks and moved into a tiefor the GT driver points lead. Auberlen's former co-driver Boris Saidfinished second in his first race co-driving the No. 22 PTG BMW M3 with JoeyHand and as a result, Said and Auberlen are deadlocked atop the GT driverstandings with 186 points apiece. No. 66 The Racer's Group Porsche GT3 RSco-drivers Ian James, RJ Valentine and Chris Gleason are in a three-way tiefor third with 167 points, 19 in arrears of Auberlen and Said.
The No. 21 PTG team also leads the team standings, 186-171, over the No. 66The Racer's Group squad, with the No. 44 Orbit Racing Porsche GT3 RS teamthird in GT team points with 165. The GT manufacturer's battle also featuresa tie, as BMW and Porsche share the lead with 189 points, and Maseratistands third with 149 points.
In Super Grand Sport (SGS), No. 38 TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup co-driversMarc Bunting and Andy Lally used a second place class finish to extend theirSGS points lead to 17 points over their teammates in the No. 36 Porsche GT3Cup, Randy Pobst and Michael Levitas (191-174). No. 37 TPC Racing PorscheGT3 Cup driver John Littlechild is alone in fifth place with 167.
The No. 38 TPC Racing team tops the SGS team standings with 191 points, 29ahead of the No. 41 ORISON-Planet Earth Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup team.The No. 36 TPC Racing team is third with 142 points. Among SGSmanufacturers, Porsche owns a dominating, 82-point lead over Chevrolet(207-115), with Ferrari in third with 42 points.
The next event on the 2004 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series calendaris the EMCO Gears Mid-Ohio Road Racing Classic on Saturday, August 7. Fortickets, call 1-800-MID-OHIO or visit midohio.com.
The Grand American Road Racing Association, which sanctions the Rolex SportsCar Series and the Grand-Am Cup Series, is one of the fastest growingmotorsports organizations in the United States. Established in 1999, GrandAmerican's stated goal is to bring stability to professional sports car roadracing in North America. The 12-race 2004 Rolex Series schedule and the10-race Grand-Am Cup calendar delivers professional sports car racing tomany key markets throughout North America in addition to being televised inthe United States and Canada on SPEED Channel and distributed globallythrough ESPN International. With title sponsorship support from Rolex WatchUSA, the Rolex Sports Car Series showcases emerging and legendary driversfrom around the globe and thoroughbred racing machines from the industry'sleading constructors and the world's top automobile manufacturers. Learnmore about Grand American at grandamerican.com.
