Riley Technologies celebrated a 1-2-3 finish at the inaugural Grand-Am of the Americas, continuing their run of form in Grand-Am, having celebrated their ninth consecutive Daytona victory in January.
The race victory came in the form of Gainsco Racing‘s Corvette Daytona Prototype, built on a Riley chassis, driven by Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney in the team’s home race.
It was not an easy victory, however, as the Gurney crossed the line less than half a second ahead of Ryan Dalziel in the #2 Ford-Riley, followed by the #01 BMW-Riley of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas.
Rojas held the lead in the #01 car for 33 laps before handing over to Pruett, but Pruett was forced into a curb on his out lap, launching the car in the air for a moment before landing hard back on the circuit. Despite the impact, Pruett was battling for the win until the final few corners.
“This is by far the biggest win we have ever had in the United States, right here at home in Texas, and ranks right up there with our first ever win in Mexico City back in 2007” said winning team owner Bob Stallings. “But in terms of degree of difficulty this was by far the sweetest win, and just how magical is this? We had hundreds of agents and guests out here, we had the pole, we were the race’s lead presenting sponsor, we are in Texas, we are a Texas team and it has been a long time since we won. What a perfect race to make a comeback!”
Riley also saw success in the GT Class as the Turner Motorsport BMW, piloted by Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana, won an incredibly close battle in the final laps of the race to take the victory.
