Gurney, Fogarty Dominate Utah 250

TOOELE, Sept. 20, 2009: Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty took a solid victory over their rivals in the battle for the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 championship Saturday, winning Saturday's Utah 250 at Miller Motorsports Park.

The pair led 43 of the 56 laps to win the two-hour, 45-minute race on the 4.486-mile circuit. Gurney took the lead in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley on the 30th of 56 laps and paced the final 27 circuits, taking the checkered flag 1.264 seconds ahead of Max Angelelli. Scott Pruett finish third, 1.529 seconds behind the winner, with the top three teams in the championship sweeping the podium.

"We got the pole, fastest lap and the win - we had the whole shebang this weekend," Gurney said after scoring the winning duo's season-leading fourth victory. "It was a great day for the championship. I think we had the pace this weekend."

The Acxiom GT race came down to the wire. Robin Liddell and Dirk Werner getting together coming to the white flag to give the victory to Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato, who came from last to first to win their second race of the season in the No. 69 FXDD SpeedSource Mazda RX-8.

The victory moves Gurney and Fogarty to an eight-point lead (309-301) in the Daytona Prototype point standings entering the season-ending Grand Prix of Miami on Oct. 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Angelelli and Brian Frisselle, drivers of the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara, took sole possession of second place, while Pruett and Memo Rojas are 10 points behind the leaders in the No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley.

"You can trust me, all three of us were pushing like crazy," Angelelli said. "We absolutely, for two hours, were running like qualifying. It was the best I could do, and I'm sure it was the same for the (Nos.) 99 and the 01. They all gave 100 percent, I have no doubts. I could see it."

Fogarty led the opening 16 laps before pitting. Timo Bernhard, who pressured Fogarty from the drop of the green flag, led 13 laps in the Penske Racing Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley, before Gurney took over on the final round of pit stops.

"All in all, it worked out really well," Fogarty said. "Alex did a tremendous job. He was in the car for a long time and had to fight off a lot of attacks."

The race was slowed three times for 10 laps by cautions (once for debris, twice to tow stalled cars), with the three championship leaders in the top three positions. Each time, Gurney was able to pull away on the restart.

"The restarts were stressful," Gurney said. "We were a little short on top speed on the front straight and I could see Max closing, so I had to get really good jumps."

Bernhard and Romain Dumas finished fourth, followed by Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley.

Ozz Negri and Mark Patterson finished sixth in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, followed by Joao Barbosa and JC France in the No. 59 Brumos Porsche Riley, Ricky Taylor and Mike Forest in the No. 13 Beyer Racing Chevrolet Riley, Darren Law and David Donohue in the No. 58 Brumos Porsche Riley, and Michael Valiante and John Pew in the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley.