GRAND AM (DAYTONA) - Pruett Brings Championship Lead...

No driver has yet captured two Daytona Prototype driver championships in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve, but 2004 champion and all-time Daytona Prototype wins leader Scott Pruett has put himself in position to do just that entering this weekend’s Porsche 250 Presented By Bradley Arant at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.

Pruett, who teamed with Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing Lexus Riley, captured his first win last weekend at Iowa Speedway since the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. The win – which was Rojas’s first – makes Pruett the all-time winningest driver in Daytona Prototype history with 14 triumphs, passing James Weaver.

Pruett’s record-setting win stretched his championship points lead to 15 over 2005 co-champion Max Angelelli. Rojas – who didn’t drive with Pruett at the Rolex 24 – is currently fifth in the championship. The No. 01 TELMEX Team is the only Rolex Series car to finish in the top 10 in every race this season in either class.

Angelelli remains in contention for his second Daytona Prototype title despite teaming with different co-drivers throughout the season. Angelelli drove the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley with Jan Magnussen – along with team owner Wayne Taylor and NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon at the Rolex 24 – for the first five races before Magnussen’s schedule forced the team to pass the car off to Jonathan Cochet for the next three races. Magnussen rejoined Angelelli for last week’s race at Iowa Speedway, where the duo recovered from a Magnussen spin on Lap 85 to finish seventh and keep Angelelli’s hold on second place in the championship.

No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley co-drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty weren’t able to capture a fourth consecutive Daytona Prototype win, but the podium finish at Iowa leaves the duo just seven points behind Angelelli in third place in the season championship. Gurney and Fogarty have four wins this season, the most overall in the Rolex Series.

The No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley of Colin Braun and Max Papis has yet to win in 2007, but Braun and then-teammate Jörg Bergmeister piloted the car to a win at Barber Motorsports Park one year ago. With top-five finishes in the past three races, Braun and Papis trail the No. 99 GAINSCO teammates by 13 points in the championship race.

Pruett and Rojas are not the only drivers who have been consistent this season. The duo of David Donahue and Darren Law has driven the No. 58 Red Bull Brumos Porsche Riley into top-10 finishes in each race since the Rolex 24. Those results have the duo in eighth place.

It’s been feast or famine for defending Daytona Prototype champion Bergmeister and co-driver Patrick Long. The duo drove the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Ruby Tuesday Porsche Crawford to a win at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but that remains the team’s only podium finish in 2007. Despite on-track misfortune and mechanical difficulties, the pair remains in the top-10 in the championship hunt and led two laps at Iowa Speedway before finishing 10th. Long has also had success at Barber, having started second a year ago before finishing third.

No. 19 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing Z-Line Designs/Mission Residential/Make-A-Wish Lexus Riley drivers Rob Finlay and Michael Valiante scored their best result of the season with a runner-up finish at Iowa Speedway. The duo made an impressive late-race run, as Valiante challenged the No. 01 team car for the lead on the last lap before settling for second place.

The lead drivers of both Michael Shank Racing Lexus Rileys have quietly put themselves into position to climb the charts in the season’s remaining weeks. Ian James, driving the No. 6 Lexus Riley with teammate John Pew, currently sits 12th in the championship – only 15 points out of eighth place. The No. 60 Lexus Riley driven by Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson finished fifth at Iowa Speedway and remain just one point behind James. Both Michael Shank Racing cars saw success last season at Barber Motorsports Park, with the No. 60 and No. 6 cars improving 10 and 14 positions respectively during last year’s race.

The No. 3 Southard Motorsports Preformed Line Products/TrueChoice Motorsports Lexus Riley saw its best finish of 2007 at Iowa Speedway, as NASCAR Nextel Cup star Mark Martin made his Daytona Prototype debut with the team’s regular driver Shane Lewis. Starting from the tail, Martin passed several cars on the opening lap before handing the No. 3 to Lewis, who brought the car home eighth. Lewis’ regular co-driver, Randy Ruhlman, made the difficult decision to sacrifice his seat time to save the time on a second driver change and allow Lewis to finish the race. Lewis is currently the only driver listed for this weekend’s event.

JC France returns to Daytona Prototype action this weekend after a week away, reuniting with Hurley Haywood in the No. 59 Brumos Porsche Riley. Guy Cosmo replaced France last week at Iowa, helping Haywood to a 12th-place finish.

Others looking searching for a podium appearance at Barber are the Linder Industrial Komatsu Grand Prix of Miami-winning No. 05 Luggage Express Team Sigalsport BMW/Riley and drivers Bill Auberlen and Matthew Alhadeff; the Rolex 24 At Daytona runner-up No. 11 SAMAX/CITGO Pontiac Riley and current drivers Patrick Carpentier and Kris Szekeres; No. 39 Cheever Racing Crown Royal Special Reserve Pontiac Fabcar of Christian Fittipaldi and Harrison Brix; No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley driven by Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson; No. 61 AIM Autosport Exchange Traded Gold Lexus Riley driven by brothers Brian and Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins; and the No. 91 Riley-Matthews Motorsports of Jim Matthews and Mark Goossens.

GT Class:

While the Daytona Prototype Championship race has begun taking shape, the Rolex Series GT championship remains up for grabs with just three races remaining. With the Championship’s top seven drivers separated by only 17 points, this week’s Porsche 250 will go a long way in determining who will wear the season-ending crown.

On the point this week is German Dirk Werner, co-driving the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Marquis Jet/IPC/Recaro Porsche GT3 with Bryce Miller. The young Werner returned championship lead with a third-place finish at Iowa, where he led more laps than any other driver before falling back in the final 20 laps. Miller currently sits in sixth place, 12 points behind his teammate, as the duo has driven together in every race but the Rolex 24.

The hard charger of late has been defending Rolex GT champion Andy Lally. Lally and co-driver RJ Valentine in the No. 66 TRG CRG/Maxter/Rotax Porsche GT3 have won four of the past six races – the U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and last week’s race during a hot and humid day at Iowa Speedway. Lally and Valentine are now only 10 points behind Werner, but just one point ahead of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards in the No. 07 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R. Lally, with then-teammate Marc Bunting, captured last year’s round at Barber Motorsports Park. A duplicate performance would go a long way in Lally’s efforts to repeat as GT driving Champion.

Collins and Edwards saw their slim two-point lead melt away in the Iowa heat. After leading the first 93 laps of the 185-lap showdown, mechanical difficulties relegated the duo to a 14th-place finish. The No. 07 remains the only championship contenders without a win in 2007, and will try to end that slide this week at Barber, where saw Collins and Edwards claimed a podium spot in 2006.

One of the toughest decisions at Iowa Speedway paid off handsomely for SpeedSource owner/co-driver Sylvain Tremblay, who managed to stay just 17 points off the championship pace entering the Barber race. Rather than retire the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 after contact with another car on Lap 41, the team pushed the car back to the garage for repairs. While the move eliminated Tremblay and co-driver Nick Ham from race contention, Tremblay ran enough laps to finish ahead of Collins and Edwards and pick up valuable championship points.

While the No. 07 Pontiac GXP.R watched its championship lead disappear from pit lane, they could take solace in the fact that Banner Racing teammates Tim Lewis and Leighton Reese were stealing points from other top contenders with a runner-up finish at Iowa. The No. 06 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R drivers returned to the podium for the first time since a win at Lime Rock Park, and a late-race pass for second over Dirk Werner not only helped Collins and Edwards but propelled Reese and Lewis into the top 10 in the standings.

Lally and Valentine’s No. 66 isn’t the only TRG Porsche looking for success at this week’s Porsche 250. Ross Smith and Dan DiLeo are scheduled to drive the No. 65 TRG Maxwell Paper Products Porsche GT3 alongside the No. 67 TRG AVIVA Porsche GT3 of Mark Greenberg and Spencer Pumpelly. Pumpelly, who teamed with Brian Sellers, climbed 11 places during the race to finish fourth at Iowa.

While the No. 70 experienced difficulties at Iowa, the No. 69 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Emil Assentato and Nick Longhi quietly climbed to a fifth-place finish. The pair heads to Birmingham searching for its first podium since Mexico City. Meanwhile, the No. 85 Farnbacher Loles of Dominik Farnbacher and Ian Baas qualified second before difficulties prevented them from finishing the Iowa race. Farnbacher, then driving with Leh Keen, finished second at Mexico City.

The No. 42 Team Sahlen HRPworld.com Corvette of Joe Sahlen and Will Nonnamaker ran its most successful race of the season at Iowa, finishing sixth. The team, along with the No. 43 Team Sahlen HRPworld.com Corvette driven by Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker, hope to carry that momentum from the Midwest to the South this week.

Making its return to GT competition this week at the Porsche 250 is the Playboy Racing/Unitech Team. The team entered both the No. 33 Playboy/Vonage/Palms Nissan 350Z and the No. 35 Playboy/Vonage/Palms Nissan 350Z with drivers Tommy Constantine, Mike Borkowski and David Murry.

Other GT class competition entered into the Porsche 250 Presented By Bradley Arant at Barber Motorsports Park is the No. 03 Georgian Bay Motorsports SCADA Pack Corvette of Eric Curran and Jamie Holtom; No. 17 Doncaster Racing MineStar/Tim Horton’s Porsche GT3 of Greg Wilkins and Dave Lacey; No. 21 Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac GTO.R of Matt Connolly, Hal Prewitt and Shawn Price; No. 22 Alegra Motorsports Gatorade/TodayMD.com Porsche GT3 Cup of Carlos de Quesada and Jean-Francois Dumoulin; No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Corvette of Marc Bunting and Dominic Cicero; and the No. 96 RJR Racing Group Porsche GT3 of BJ Zacharias and Rene Robichaud.

Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant Storylines

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 17, 2007) – Heading into this weekend’s Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve race at Barber Motorsports Park, Round 10 of the Daytona Prototype (SPEED, Sunday at 3 p.m. ET) and Round 11 of the GT (SPEED, Saturday at 4 p.m. ET) 14-round 2007 schedule, here are some pre-race notes, story angles and interesting trends to follow:

STREAKS: Daytona Prototype Championship leader Scott Pruett is the only driver to have finished in the top 10 in every race this season. Pruett’s worst finish is an eighth at Virginia International Raceway…No GT driver has spent the entire season in the top-10, following the 14th-place finish by Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards last weekend at Iowa…There has been at least one Porsche on the GT podium in the last 15 Rolex Series events, dating back to last year… Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney currently have the longest consecutive podium streak in Daytona Prototype competition with four. Fogarty and Gurney finished third at Iowa Speedway after wins at Watkins Glen International, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Daytona International Speedway.

TIGHTENING UP… Both the Daytona Prototype and GT Championship battles figure to come down to the wire. While Pruett has a 15-point lead over second place Max Angelelli, only 20 points separate Angelelli from sixth-place drivers Colin Braun and Max Papis. A scant 17 points separate first place Dirk Werner from seventh place Sylvain Tremblay in the GT Championship.

MILESTONES: Pruett captured his 14th win in Daytona Prototype competition last week at Iowa Speedway, breaking a tie with James Weaver for most all-time. The win was also the first career Daytona Prototype victory for co-driver Memo Rojas. The win also pulled Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates into a tie for the all-time Rolex Series team victory mark, which stands at 15 by the Dyson Racing Team… Andy Lally’s GT win was his record 50th career Rolex Series podium finish.

NOTEWORTHY: The Rolex Series Daytona Prototypes and GT classes will run separate races at this week’s Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park. Each race is televised live on SPEED… Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards remain just 11 points back in the GT championship despite not yet recording a win in 2007…Lally and RJ Valentine have won 4 of the last 6 GT races.

Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant Fast Facts

What: Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve

Who: Daytona Prototype and GT class cars, featuring several top American and international sports car

driving stars

Where: Barber Motorsports Park – Birmingham, Alabama

When: Saturday, July 21, 2007 – 3 p.m. ET (GT)

Sunday, July 22, 2007 – 2 p.m. ET (Daytona Prototypes)

TV: SPEED, Live, July 21, 4 p.m. ET (GT)

SPEED, Live, July 22, 3 p.m. ET (Daytona Prototypes)

Schedule of Events (All times local, Eastern Time):

Thursday, July 19 – Promoter Practice Day

6:30 AM Paddock Opens

8:00 AM - 8:50 AM Practice – KONI Challenge Series GS

9:00 AM - 9:50 AM Practice – KONI Challenge Series ST

10:00 AM - 10:50 AM Practice – Rolex Series Daytona Prototype

11:00 AM - 11:50 AM Practice – Rolex Series GT

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch Break

1:00 PM - 1:50 PM Practice – KONI Challenge Series GS

2:00 PM - 2:50 PM Practice – KONI Challenge Series ST

3:00 PM - 3:50 PM Practice – Rolex Series Daytona Prototype

4:00 PM - 4:50 PM Practice – Rolex Series GT

9:00 PM Paddock Closes

Friday, July 20

6:30 AM Paddock Opens

8:00 AM - 8:45 AM Practice – KONI Challenge Series ST

8:55 AM - 9:40 AM Practice – Rolex Series GT

9:50 AM - 10:35 AM Practice – KONI Challenge Series GS

10:45 AM - 11:30 AM Practice – Rolex Series Daytona Prototype

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Lunch Break

1:00 PM - 1:30 PM Practice – KONI Challenge Series ST

1:40 PM - 2:25 PM Practice – Rolex Series GT

2:35 PM - 3:05 PM Practice – KONI Challenge Series GS

3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Practice – Rolex Series Daytona Prototype

4:10 PM - 4:25 PM Qualifying – KONI Challenge Series ST

4:35 PM - 4:50 PM Qualifying – Rolex Series GT

9:00 PM Paddock Closes

Saturday, July 21

6:30 AM Paddock Opens

8:00 AM - 8:20 AM Practice – KONI Challenge Series GS

8:30 AM - 8:50 AM Practice – Rolex Series Daytona Prototype

9:00 AM - 9:20 AM Practice – KONI Challenge Series ST

9:30 AM - 9:50 AM Practice – Rolex Series GT

10:00 AM - 10:15 AM Qualifying – KONI Challenge Series GS

10:25 AM - 10:40 AM Qualifying – Rolex Series Daytona Prototype

10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Lunch Break

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM Rolex Series GT Drivers Auto Session

11:50 AM Recon Laps – KONI Challenge Series ST

12:00 PM START – KONI Challenge Series ST Race

(400 kilometers - 109 Laps - 2 ½-hour time limit)

2:50 PM Recon Laps – Rolex Series GT Race

3:00 PM START – Rolex Series GT Race

(400 kilometers - 109 Laps - 2 ½-hour time limit)

9:00 PM Paddock Closes

Sunday, July 22

6:30 AM Paddock Opens

8:15 AM Recon Laps – KONI Challenge Series GS

8:30 AM START – KONI Challenge Series GS Race

(400 kilometers - 109 Laps - 2 ½-hour time limit)

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Quiet Hour – No Engines to be started

11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Drivers Autograph Session

1:45 PM Recon Laps – Rolex Series Daytona Prototypes

2:00 PM START – Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Race

(400 kilometers - 109 Laps - 2 ½-hour time limit)

9:00 PM Paddock Closed

TIME CERTAIN SCHEDULE – All sessions to start and finish as shown