Saturday’s Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park produced a pair of repeat race winners in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
All of the competitors run on Pirelli tires.
Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas claimed the Daytona Prototype checkered flag as Emil Assentato and Jeff Segal took the GT class honors.
Both teams won for the second consecutive time this year following their first victories of the season at last month’s Grand Prix of Miami. The next race at Virginia International Raceway in two weeks will offer a $10,000 Pirelli P Zero Club bonus to any first-time 2010 winners in the Bosch Engineering 250.
Pruett and Rojas have increased their already-commanding lead in the season-long championship standings. The pair led a race-high 69 laps, including 43 by final driver Pruett – who had high praise for the P Zeros.
“The Pirellis were almost as fast at the end as they were at the beginning,” says Pruett. “This is a great tire and it is consistent and strong.”
Pruett crossed the finish line 6.870 seconds ahead of the No. 60 Crown Royal XR/Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley of Oswaldo Negri and John Pew. The No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW Riley of Ryan Dalziel and Mike Forest finished third.
“I never have anything bad to say about Pirelli,” Negri says. “The tires were great and we were actually very strong on old tires, and that was when our car was coming alive. You can’t say enough about what those guys do. They are always coming by our place and making sure everything is cool and I am very proud to be racing on Pirelli tires.”
Pew shares Negri’s enthusiasm for the P Zeros.
“I agree with the same thing Oswaldo says,” Pew points out. “They are fantastic, I love the Pirellis and I wish we could keep using them.”
After running the last two years at Barber in the thick of oppressive summer heat and humidity, the new April race date let the series teams experience the P Zeros in milder spring temperatures for the first time, reports Rafael Navarro III, the company’s director of motorsports and media relations.
“We had great performance from the Pirellis and they never gave up, which was really, really impressive,” Segal says.
His No. 69 car led a top-three Mazda RX-8 GT sweep ahead of the second-place No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports entry of Todd Lamb and Jordan Taylor and the Daytona-winning Castrol Syntec/SpeedSource racer driven by Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito.
“The Mazdas behind me were pushing really hard, so we were taking everything the tires would give,” says Segal. “The tires hung in there, we turned in some quick laps and I was impressed. This track is notoriously very difficult on tires, both with the weather and the duration of the corners, it is very difficult.”
Pirelli’s P Zero Club is comprised of returning teams that finished inside the top 10 in the final 2009 Grand-Am series Daytona Prototype and GT points standings. When one of those teams in either class scores its first victory of the 2010 season they will also earn a $5,000 bonus. Any repeat wins by either team in the remainder of the season will see that race’s $5,000 bonus “roll over” and continue to build at each race until other P Zero Club members score their first 2010 victories.
For the Sept. 11 season finale at Miller Motorsports Park, all members of the P Zero Club will again be eligible for the bonus, regardless of whether or not they have won earlier in the season.
Next up for Pirelli and the series is the April 23-24 Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway. Coverage will air April 24 on the Speed Channel, starting at 2 p.m. ET and 11 a.m. PT.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
