From the Grand-Am Road Racing PR Team
The 11th season for Grand-Am Road Racing yielded several great stories in its Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
Influenced by suggestions from fans, officials, teams, drivers and others in the industry, below are the top-10 stories from 2010 as chosen by the Grand-Am crew. We reordered them in what we believe to be our top-10.
10- Resurgence of Chevrolet:
Chevrolet resurged from problems to give both its Daytona Prototype and GT class programs victories for the first time in seven seasons.
First, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty earned GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing's only DP victory at New Jersey, while the Banner Racing Corvette and Stevenson Motorsports Camaro topped the final two GT races.
9- SpeedSource Dominates GT Competition:
SpeedSource entered three cars for the 2010 Rolex Series GT season, and all three cars won races.
The team's No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8, with fulltime drivers Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato, won the title over team owner Sylvain Tremblay and co-driver Jonathan Bomarito, two of four drivers to win the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
8- No Ride, No Problem For Hitch-Hiking Lally In GT Championship:
Andy Lally made the best of a limited schedule with TRG, winning races in a Porsche at VIR, Watkins Glen and Daytona.
To stay in contention for the championship, Lally also ran races in two different Corvettes and two different Mazda RX-8s. He wound up missing the penultimate round at Montreal and took seventh in the standings.
7- Dempsey Racing Wins First Rolex Series Race:
The move to a two-car effort paid off for Dempsey Racing when James Gue and Leh Keen took GT honors at Watkins Glen International.
The No. 41 Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Global Diving and Salvage Mazda RX-8 also finished fourth in the team championship, the best finish for Dempsey Racing since joining the Rolex Series full time in 2008.
6- First Time's A Charm For Action Express:
When Brumos Racing cut back to one car, Bob Johnson formed Action Express Racing to field a Porsche/Riley for 2010.
The team won its first start, as regulars Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller were joined by Ryan Dalziel and Mike Rockenfeller in capturing the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
It also marked the first victory for a Cayenne-based Porsche V-8 engine in major international 24-hour competition.
5- Roush Earns 400th Victory:
Jack Roush Jr. gave his father - NASCAR legend Jack Roush - his teams' 400th career professional motorsports victory in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with his father on hand.
It was the first of two victories and six podium finishes for Roush and Billy Johnson in the No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang GT.
4- Putman, Espenlaub Win Tight Grand Sport Title Chase:
The Grand Sport championship of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge went down to the final lap of the season at Miller Motorsports Park.
Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub took top honors by six points with a fifth-place finish in the No. 48 Sparco/Fall Line Motorsports BMW M3, with Espenlaub rallying late in the season finale.
...Top-3 on the next page...
The 11th season for Grand-Am Road Racing yielded several great stories in its Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
Influenced by suggestions from fans, officials, teams, drivers and others in the industry, below are the top-10 stories from 2010 as chosen by the Grand-Am crew. We reordered them in what we believe to be our top-10.
10- Resurgence of Chevrolet:
Chevrolet resurged from problems to give both its Daytona Prototype and GT class programs victories for the first time in seven seasons.
First, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty earned GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing's only DP victory at New Jersey, while the Banner Racing Corvette and Stevenson Motorsports Camaro topped the final two GT races.
9- SpeedSource Dominates GT Competition:
SpeedSource entered three cars for the 2010 Rolex Series GT season, and all three cars won races.
The team's No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8, with fulltime drivers Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato, won the title over team owner Sylvain Tremblay and co-driver Jonathan Bomarito, two of four drivers to win the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
8- No Ride, No Problem For Hitch-Hiking Lally In GT Championship:
Andy Lally made the best of a limited schedule with TRG, winning races in a Porsche at VIR, Watkins Glen and Daytona.
To stay in contention for the championship, Lally also ran races in two different Corvettes and two different Mazda RX-8s. He wound up missing the penultimate round at Montreal and took seventh in the standings.
7- Dempsey Racing Wins First Rolex Series Race:
The move to a two-car effort paid off for Dempsey Racing when James Gue and Leh Keen took GT honors at Watkins Glen International.
The No. 41 Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Global Diving and Salvage Mazda RX-8 also finished fourth in the team championship, the best finish for Dempsey Racing since joining the Rolex Series full time in 2008.
6- First Time's A Charm For Action Express:
When Brumos Racing cut back to one car, Bob Johnson formed Action Express Racing to field a Porsche/Riley for 2010.
The team won its first start, as regulars Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller were joined by Ryan Dalziel and Mike Rockenfeller in capturing the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
It also marked the first victory for a Cayenne-based Porsche V-8 engine in major international 24-hour competition.
5- Roush Earns 400th Victory:
Jack Roush Jr. gave his father - NASCAR legend Jack Roush - his teams' 400th career professional motorsports victory in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with his father on hand.
It was the first of two victories and six podium finishes for Roush and Billy Johnson in the No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang GT.
4- Putman, Espenlaub Win Tight Grand Sport Title Chase:
The Grand Sport championship of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge went down to the final lap of the season at Miller Motorsports Park.
Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub took top honors by six points with a fifth-place finish in the No. 48 Sparco/Fall Line Motorsports BMW M3, with Espenlaub rallying late in the season finale.
...Top-3 on the next page...