Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney led the Pontiac charge in their No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Daytona Prototype (DP) this evening at the new Iowa Speedway to finish third. Round nine of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve proved to be the end of the GAINSCO teams win streak.
The late afternoon qualifying session had the Texas based GAINSCO team on the pole with Jon Fogarty putting the No. 99 Pontiac Riley on the point with a time of 41.709-seconds. Fogarty and teammate Alex Gurney have sat on the pole the last four races, winning three of those. Today’s pole position also stretches the Pontiac point streak to nine on the season.
The lead early in the two-and-a-half-hour race was shared by the No. 99. Pontiac and the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac. Pontiac power led the first 84 laps up until the second caution of the race. Jan Magnussen in the No. 10 went off course on his in- lap during the yellow. The Dane went into the grass in turn-four and stalled the motor, by the time he recovered he rejoined the filed one lap down.
During the caution, Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 Pontiac gave up the seat to teammate Alex Gurney. Approximately 40-laps into his ride, Gurney reported a possible broken header and continued to nurse the Riley DP car to the finish.
“I think we had a header pipe broken, ” Gurney said. “I heard the engine noise change and we traced it back to a cracked header pipe. The hurt pipe was also affecting our gas mileage, so our third place today is a good finish for us. Jon did a great job to get the pole and run upfront. It was an unbelievably clean race at this tight track tonight. ”
What looked like a possible win for the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac faded with the mistake by Magnussen. Regular driver Max Angelelli was able to run fast laps to make up ground, but couldn’t get a late race caution to help his cause.
“On my in lap during the caution I went off in turn-four, ” Magnussen said. “I went in too hot and went off, the car stalled and I was nosed into the tires. It was a mistake. When I recovered I was a lap down and then pitted. We were fast during my first stint and the car would get better the further into the run I went. It looked good for the finish, but we couldn’t get the lap back. ”
Max Papis and Colin Braun in the No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley kept their consistent top five finishes rolling. Papis started from his eighth place qualifying position and Braun brought the car home in fourth.
“We had a good run tonight, ” Papis said. “The 19 car was fast and also cost us some positions this evening. We had the strategy down and the Pontiac motor was giving us good mileage to make it to the end. Colin ran strong at the end, but the lack of a caution at the end didn’t give us the chance to move-up. ”
The No. 91 Riley-Mathews Motorsport Pontiac Riley had an early demise from the race. Contact early in the event between Jim Mathews and the 76 car resulted in a broken transmission seal, ending the race early.
“Jim had contact early with the 76, ” Goosens said. “He got hit in the rear wheel which pushed the half-shaft into the transmission pinching the seal and causing it to leak. All the fluid eventually came out and that ended our day early. It is too bad we had a good car and with some luck we could have moved up in the field. ”
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