Grand American Rolex

SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 23, 2008) – A controversial drive-through penalty dropped Scott Pruett from podium contention to an eventual sixth-place in today’s Armed Forces 250 at Infineon Raceway, yet, he and teammate Memo Rojas continued to inch closer to the 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series title.

Pruett was passing the #58 Porsche for fourth position on a late re-start when the two cars appeared to make slight door-to-door contact. Pruett then quickly closed on the third-place car. At that point, Pruett was issued the drive-through penalty by Grand-Am for avoidable contact and he fell back to 10th-place. He eventually drove back up through the field to finish sixth.

The Lexus-powered duo maintain a 42-point championship lead with just two races remaining – needing only to place 17th in each of season’s final two events to clinch the title. A championship would be an American record eighth major sports car title for Pruett, while Rojas would become the first Mexican driver ever to win a major U.S. championship.

Saturday’s race capped off a difficult weekend for the #3 Southard Motorsports Lexus. After a Thursday practice crash heavily damaged the team’s Riley chassis, the Southard squad worked through the night just to make today’s race. After an impressive 10th in qualifying, Shane Lewis had an off-course excursion on the opening lap, dropping him well back in the field. He would eventually retire with a broken axle in 17th-place.

The Rolex Sports Car Series will now make the long trek from northern California to the east coast for the inaugural race at the New Jersey Motorsports Park, Aug. 31.

Lexus Race Results, Start/Finish

#01 Pruett/Rojas, Telmex/Target Lexus 5/6

#3 Lewis/Lester, Southard/Lexus 10/17

Notes:

- Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas can now capture the Rolex Sports Car Series championship by finishing 17th or better in each of the season’s final two races. They could claim the title next weekend in New Jersey simply by finishing ahead of the #99 car or by placing fourth or better.

- With the current 17-car field, Chip Ganassi Racing can clinch the Team championship simply by starting each of the last two races. A title would be the third for the team since entering Grand-Am competition in 2004 – all with Lexus power.

- Today’s sixth-place finish is the 11th top-10 finish in 12 races this season for the Ganassi #01 Lexus. The team has now finished in the top 10 in 30 of the last 31 races.

Quotes:

Memo Rojas, #01 Telmex Lexus: “We had a good start and were able to pass the #23 early. We then battled with them for a bit, but they were running a little bit quicker than us and we decided to let them go rather than risk an incident there. The car was good, but we lacked a little bit of grip. We’re just running on the conservative side. If we can’t get the win, we’ll just run for the most points we can get. But with our lead in the points (49 points entering the race), the most important thing is we need to finish.”

Scott Pruett, #01 Telmex Lexus: “Obviously, we’re disappointed with the outcome, but at the same time we’re still fighting for the championship. We only lost a few points to the #99 car, which is important. The Lexus engine was good, the car ran flawlessly. We received a stop-and-go penalty that I wouldn’t necessarily agree with, but Grand-Am decided they wanted to do that and that’s that. There’s nothing we can do about that. We just go to New Jersey next week and keep doing what we’re doing. I thought we might have had a shot for the podium before the penalty, but it was so difficult to pass here.”