From the Grand-Am Rolex Series
Joao Barbosa and Hurley Haywood won Saturday's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series season-ending Grand Prix of Miami by passing Scott Pruett on the back straight with 28 minutes - or Lap 84 of 100 - remaining in the two-and-half hour race. Both Rojas and Pruett each took turns in the lead, but Barbosa went by and led the final 17 circuits. Pruett, who shared the 2004 and 2008 Daytona Prototype titles, finished second in the points for the fourth time. Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney finished fourth to capture their second Daytona Prototype championship in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley. They finished six points ahead (337-331) of Pruett and Memo Rojas. Brian Frisselle and Max Angelelli entered the race second in the standings but finished seventh in the No. 10 Ford Dallara. They finished the year third in the championship with 325 points. The race ended under caution following a multi-car spin on a restart with six minutes remaining, when Jared Beyer was turned around in front of a pack of cars - eliminating Beyer while damaging many of the GT contenders. That gave the Acxiom GT victory to Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards in the No. 07 Pontiac GXP.R, while Leh Keen and Dirk Werner captured the championship with a third-place finish. Collins finished the year second in the points (359-334). Collins entered the race still eligible for the GT title, but was eliminated when Keen ran the 30 minutes needed to score points in the No. 87 Porsche GT3 to clinch his first title. Werner, who won the title for the team in 2007, ran 30 minutes to join Keen atop the standings following a third-place finish. Liddell held the lead in the No. 57 Pontiac GXP.R started by Andrew Davis on the final restart, but was bottled up in heavy traffic as Edwards went by. Liddell had led three times for a race-high 37 before finishing second. The 2009 Rolex Champions Banquet will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood.
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