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Team TELMEX Finishes 13th at Watkins Glen, Retains Championship Points Lead


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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -The No.01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Lexus finished in 13th place at Watkins Glen International (WGI) as a result of sporadic weather conditions during the 82-lap event. Rain appeared imminent before the race started so the CGRFS team decided to start the race on treaded rain tires as the majority of the starting field started on slick tires. Rain did not materialize and the team made their first of three pit stops to put on slick tires.

Rojas navigated the first stint of the race from his fifth place starting position and adjusted from the tire change and changing track conditions to hand the car to Pruett on lap 24. Pruett advanced from 18th place after the driver change pit stop and the team’s final fuel-only stop on lap 57 which enabled him to capitalize on scoring a 13th place finish.

Pruett and Rojas continue to lead the Rolex series driver and team championship race with 339 points, 49 markers over the No.99 Fogarty/Gurney car (290).

Next up for the team is the Armed Forces 250 at Infineon Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 23rd at 3:00 PM PT in Sonoma, Calif. (Aug. 24th 12:00 PM ET, SPEED).

CGRFS Quoteboard:

Scott Pruett: “We took a bit of a gamble today by starting the race on rain tires, and when I got in the car I became focused on gathering as many points as we could. You’ll have race days like we experienced (this evening), but the key is to focus on the big picture, which is the points championship for us. At the end of the day, the TELMEX Lexus came out with the lead in the championship and we’ll move onto the next race at Infineon (Raceway) and again focus on scoring as many points as possible. ”

Memo Rojas: “I think we had a better car than what we showed in our finish today. Despite my disappointment with our finish, the TELMEX team did a great job this weekend to give us a strong car. I can’t wait until we go to Sonoma in a few weeks because I want to get back on the podium and continue our run for the championship.”