Grand-Am
Birmingham: Lexus preview
LEXUS DUO TAKES POINTS LEAD INTO BARBER -- Lexus drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas will take a one-point championship lead into Round 8 of the Rolex Sports Car Series at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend. The hotly-contested title race features ...
Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:39 PM
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LEXUS DUO TAKES POINTS LEAD INTO BARBER -- Lexus drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas will take a one-point championship lead into Round 8 of the Rolex Sports Car Series at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend. The hotly-contested title race features the top three cars separated by just three points with only five races remaining. To date, Pruett and Rojas have combined for two victories (Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio), a pair of runner-up finishes and six top-10 showings in the season's first seven races. This weekend's event will mark the 18th time in the last 21 races that the #01 Telmex Lexus has been on top of the Grand-Am standings.
RUNNING UPFRONT -- Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas have combined to qualify on the front row in six consecutive races heading into this weekend's action. Included in those six efforts are four pole positions, including the most recent round at Daytona (Virginia, Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen were the others). The Lexus-powered duo has been as fast during the races as they have been in qualifying, as one of only two cars to have led every race this season. Overall, the #01 Lexus has led more laps than any other team in the series with 381 -- 109 more than the second-highest total. Individually, Pruett leads the series with 191 laps led and Rojas is second with 137.
LAST RACE -- After dominating the early portion of the race, a blown tire cost the duo of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas a shot at victory in the Brumos 250 on the road course at the Daytona International Speedway. The incident occurred while Rojas was running second just before the mid-way point of the race. After dropping to 13th while pitting, Pruett drove to an eventual seventh-place finish.
LAST YEAR AT BARBER -- With track temperatures soaring over 120 degrees, the Lexus duo of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas registered their sixth Rolex Sports Car Series victory of the 2008 season at the Barber Motorsports Park. The win came in just the ninth race of the season and gave the #01 Ganassi/Lexus team a commanding 60-point championship lead with just five races remaining.
LEXUS AT BARBER -- In addition to last year's victory, the Lexus/Ganassi combination has registered one third (2004), a fourth (2005), a fifth (2007) and a tenth (2006) in five previous races at Barber Motorsports Park.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS -- The Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus team enters into this weekend's race as the winningest team in Rolex Sports Car Series history with 23 victories since entering the series in 2004. Lead driver Scott Pruett has won more races than any driver in Rolex history with 22, while also holding the record for most podium finishes with 44. Despite its relatively late entry into the series, Lexus is second among manufacturers in all-time wins with 25.
SCOTT PRUETT ON BARBER: "This is one of our most difficult tracks. It is technical both uphill and downhill. There's no real time to rest, you're always working the car. The biggest thing is the heat is an issue in almost every facet of the race. It affects the drivers, the car, the grip and the horsepower."
-credit: lexus motorsports
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