Watkins Glen, NY ? Hard chargers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty had the speed when it counted, sweeping into the lead in the closing laps to win the Sahlen?s Six Hours of The Glen on Saturday. The race marked the sixth event of the Rolex Series season.
Starting from the pole, the two west coast drivers led the early laps but fell back midway through the 167-lap race, only to bounce back with 26 minutes to go to claim their first victory on the venerable 3.4-mile road course.
A year ago, they finished second to Jorg Bergmeister and Boris Said.
The winners drove the GAINSO Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley, and they won for the second time ever. Earlier in the season, they scored their first victory at Mexico City. Until recently, the team was known more for its speed but not for its overall results.
?This was a big deal for us,? Gurney said. ?We have thrown away a few races and to become the first repeat winner of the year is great. To beat the Ganassi team hands-down was great, too; nothing was going to stop us today.?
Fogarty stated, ?We are jelling as a team but we are still developing, too. We are hungry for wins.?
The winners covered 167 laps around the 11-turn course and they had a seven-second advantage when the checkered flag dropped. The average speed for the contest was 94.199 miles per hour.
Second place went to the TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley expertly driven by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. Adding value to the finish was the team?s recovery from a first-lap incident that sent Pruett into a gravel trap and the loss of a lap.
?We were so far down at the beginning and then to come back is great,? Pruett said. ?We were tenth with two hours to go but we gambled on our fuel, which got us here. The winners just had a better car today.?
Flashy Italian Max Angelelli and young Frenchman Jonathan Cochet also overcame adversity to finish third, just two seconds behind the second-place team. On a late-race restart, Angelelli was penalized for jumping the start, forcing him to the pits. A similar incident beset them earlier in the race.
?It was very difficult for us because I was so frustrated and angry,? Angelelli said. ?The penalties cost us the win, as we had a good car.?
Fourth and fifth place finishers were John Pew and Ian James, and Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson.
Sixth place went to Jim Matthews, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marc Goosens, and seventh went to Ron Finlay and Michael Valiante.
The GT winners were a veteran trio of drivers: Andy Lally, R. J. Valentine and Spencer Pumpelly. They drove the TRG Porsche GT3 Cup car owned by Kevin Buckler. They gained the leader position with 12 laps to go with Lally on old tires passing Richard Westbrook in another Porsche.
Second in class went to the Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche driven by Dirk Werner, Craig Stanton and Bryce Miller.
Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards gained the third podium position in the closing laps. They drove the Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R.
