MEXICO CITY, Mexico (March 4, 2006) -- In front of a raucous Mexico City crowd, hometown favorite Luis Diaz and his No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley co-driver Scott Pruett turned in a dominating performance en route to victory in Saturday's Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve Mexico City 250 at the historic Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.
Pruett moved immediately into the lead after starting from the pole position and never put a wheel wrong during his driving stint, building an advantage of more than 20 seconds at one point. The 2004 Daytona Prototype co-champion brought the No. 01 machine onto pit lane under the race's first full-course caution on Lap 47, and turned the car over to Diaz without giving up the race lead.
Diaz picked up right where Pruett left off and maintained a comfortable lead. With each passing lap, the Mexico City fans grew louder and louder, cheering their countryman to a 2.84-second victory over the No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Riley of Colin Braun and Jörg Bergmeister. Diaz became the first Mexican driver in more than 30 years to earn a victory in a major international motor race in Mexico. It was just the third time that a Mexican driver has won an international event in Mexico City, following a victory by Hector Rebaque, Memo Rojas and Freddy Van Buren in the 1974 IMSA 1000km of Mexico and Moises Soloma, who won a 1968 USRRC event.
"It's a total team effort first," Diaz said. "I have to thank everyone involved from TELMEX to (team owner) Chip (Ganassi) to Carlos Slim to the whole Ganassi team. We owed this win to the Mexican people after what happened last year. I have to thank Lexus as well, as they came a long way for us from last year in terms of fuel mileage. Scott did an awesome job for the team today too. It was a flawless performance. This is the biggest win of my career and I couldn't be happier knowing it came with Chip Ganassi Racing in front of my family and friends."
Pruett and Diaz's flag-to-flag victory was the first in Rolex Series competition since James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger led every lap in a pair of sprint races at Lime Rock Park on May 28. 2001. It was also the first time that the polesitting car went on to win the same race since Pruett and Max Papis clinched their 2004 Daytona Prototype title with a win after starting from the pole in the 2004 season finale at California Speedway.
"This win is so exciting to be a part of," Pruett said. "With all the team's ties to Mexico, this is just on another scale in terms of a big win. The car was perfect all day, and for this team it's very, very special to win here. I couldn't be happier for Luis. It's one thing to win big races, but its another to win big races in your backyard, and he did that today. I couldn't be more proud of him."
It was a banner day for Braun, Bergmeister and the Krohn Racing operation. The 17-year-old Braun started the No. 76 machine from fifth on the grid and raced with the front-runners throughout his stint before Bergmeister took over to finish the race. The team's second-place finish came in the team's first outing after switching to Ford power, and was a career-best Rolex Series performance for Braun.
"It's an honor and a pleasure to be up here with guys like Scott Pruett and Paul Tracy and this group of guys," Braun said. "They've helped me so much in my early career. Also, this opportunity at Krohn Racing is fantastic. I've been trying to learn as much as possible from my teammates and the crew, and I think we have a chance to do good things here."
It was Bergmeister's best result since a victory at Phoenix International Raceway last September. Saturday's second-place run coupled with a fifth-place outing in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona moved Braun and Bergmeister atop the Daytona Prototype point standings. They hold an eight-point advantage, 58-50, over No. 77 Kodak/Amp'd Mobile/Sirius Ford Doran co-drivers Terry Borcheller and Harrison Brix with two of 14 events in the books.
"I'm really happy with the car and the new engine," said Bergmeister. "It has a lot of torque and is pretty fast. To have a fifth-place finish at Daytona and a second-place finish in the second race of the year, is not too bad."
Finishing third were Mike Borkowski and 2003 Champ Car World Series champion Paul Tracy in the No. 6 Graydon Elliott Fusion Racing with MSR Lexus Riley. It was Tracy's first-ever Rolex Series podium result and was Borkowski's best run since finishing third at Barber Motorsports Park last year. The third-place run highlighted a tough weekend for the Michael Shank Racing organization, as Tracy crashed the No. 6 machine during Thursday's practice sessions and teammate Oswaldo Negri Jr. crashed the team's No. 60 Flight Options Lexus Riley in Friday practice.
"It's great to get a finish under our belt and start working our way back up in the points after not being able to finish Daytona," said Borkowski. "It also feels good to get Graydon Elliott on the podium. We were really focused on getting a finish here this weekend for those guys, and it's even better to get them up on the podium. The car was much better today than it had been all weekend, and Paul did a great job with the restarts to get us some key positions late in the race. This has been a tough weekend all around, so to make it up to third at the finish is really encouraging for us looking forward to the rest of the season."
"I really had a blast out there racing with Max (Angelelli)--he's pretty much as crazy as I am--and we had a really great fight out there, running door handle to door handle all the way down the front stretch," added Tracy. "No matter if we had been fighting over 14th place, it was a great battle and that's the kind of racing you get up for in the morning. I want to thank Graydon Elliott and Mike Shank for making this opportunity possible, and also really thank Kenny Wilden for stepping out of the car and letting me run this race this weekend. Without all these guys, it just wouldn't have happened. I kind of got us behind early in the weekend with my crash on Thursday, but the team worked hard and we had a strong race car today. Restarts are pretty much my specialty, and the car was really good under braking so I was able to move up several spots each time."
Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace earned their first top-four performance of the season with a fourth-place outing in the No. 4 The Boss Snowplow Pontiac Crawford for Howard-Boss Motorsports. It was Wallace's best Rolex Series run since finishing second in the penultimate race of 2005 season at Virginia International Raceway, and was the best performance for Leitzinger since a third-place outing at Phoenix last September.
Brix and Borcheller completed the top five in the No. 77 Ford Doran for Feeds The Need/Doran Racing. It was a career-best result for Brix, and was Borcheller's best run since he finished fourth in the September, 2005 event at Watkins Glen International.
NOTEWORTHYA Lap 74 crash involving Chris Bingham in the No. 40 Preformed Line Products/Coyote Pontiac Riley and JC France in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Fabcar touched off a physical altercation between the two drivers. As a result, both drivers have been suspended from the upcoming Rolex Series event at Homestead-Miami Speedway and have been placed on open-ended probation. Additional sanctions against the drivers are likely... Eight different chassis and engine combinations were represented in the top 10 finishing positions in the Mexico City 250. The only combinations to double up were the Lexus Riley and the Pontiac Riley. The Lexus Rileys were represented by winners Diaz and Pruett and Tracy and Borkowski in third place, while Mario Haberfeld and Adrian Fernandez were the highest-finishing Pontiac Riley with a seventh-place run in the No. 12 Lowe's Fernandez Racing machine. Defending Daytona Prototype co-champions Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli came home ninth in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley.
