Pruett And Rojas Untouchable At Long Beach

Winning Ganassi Ford EcoBoost drives to victory lane with checkered flag flying and door open.  [Joe Jennings Photo]

Long Beach, Calif. – Perennial sports-car champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas were untouchable in the Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach, the third race of the season for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship series.

Driving the Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost Riley, the pair won for the second consecutive time.  Their last victory came in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second longest race of the season, and this victory came in the shortest race of the season, a mere 100 minutes in time.

Pruett continues to add to his trophy case, winning for the 58^th time in North American sports-car racing.  And he won for the third time at Long Beach over three decades.  Rojas earned his 29^th win.

Said Rojas, who started the race, “This is what we needed after the setback we had at Daytona.  This is my first-ever race at Long Beach, and I am glad we did it here.  We were quick off the trailer, and we did get the pole.  In the race, the track lacked grip, so it made for a hard car to drive.  I have been driving this car for seven years, but this is the first race where everything went perfectly.”

Pruett stated, “This is a very special place for me as I have been coming here for years.”

The winning duo did lose the lead momentarily during the only pit stop but Pruett was up for the challenge and quickly regained the lead.  “When the Action Express car got out ahead of us, I knew I had to make the move right away,” he noted.  “Once they had a chance to heat their tires, there was no way I could pass them.  We had to take the chance, and it worked.”

In the closing laps, Jordan and Ricky Taylor chased down the leaders, but they couldn’t make the pass, finishing 0.759 seconds behind in the Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.

Third, two laps back, came the Action Express Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi.

In the GTLM class, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia gave the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R its first victory, as the pair totally dominated their class.

Magnussen scored his 30^th career North American sports-car racing victory and Garcia went to victory lane for the eighth time.

Said Magnussen about the team’s flawless run, “It was an important victory for the team.  We’ve struggled for a while even though we have had a fast car.  It was nice to have a weekend like this.  Antonio did all the hard work, and I just had to keep the car off the wall.”

“The race for me was all about turn one and the first three laps,” Garcia said.  “I was really aggressive on those early laps, and it worked.  It also made the difference and the risk was worth it.”

Dirk Muller and John Edwards put the BMW Z4 GTE into second place ahead of the second Corvette driven by Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.

The race was caution free.

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