While it rained - and sometimes poured - during Saturday's EMCO Gears Classic for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, defending series champions and race winners Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty found a ray of sunshine at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in their first victory of the 2008 season.
Gurney passed Matt Plumb with nine laps remaining of the 76-lap, two-hour and 45-minute race and went on to win his and Fogarty's first race of the season.
Gurney, in the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley, crossed the finish line 1.347 seconds ahead of Plumb. The defending Daytona Prototype champions had not visited the podium since finishing second in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.
It was a fitting end to the pair's day, as Fogarty led the opening nine laps before spinning and falling to the rear during the first round of pit stops. Last year, the pair led all but six of the 111 laps.
“It was a pretty wild race, for sure. I didn't envy not being in the car at the beginning,” reflected Gurney. “It looked really difficult. I wondered if they were going to red flag it at some point, it looked that tough.
“When I got in, when Jon went to the back, it worked out for us because we ended up pitting at an earlier point than we would have. We got the driver change done, and it made us good until the end.
“I just concentrated on not getting off the road, trying to pick off guys. The strategy worked out for us real well. It was a fun race and very satisfying. I'm very happy for the team. We feel like we've been better than the results have been shown, and it's nice to get one on the board.”
“We haven't been up here much this year, especially after the season we had last year, but the team has been doing a great job all year,” added Fogarty. “We've been in a position to win races and be on the podium, and it seems like whole world has conspired to keep us off the podium. But we broke that today, which is great.
“It was a nightmare when it first started raining. I came down the back straightaway and it was like there were a million cars everywhere. I thought what are these jokers doing, then I almost ended up wrecking myself. When we were on slicks right then, it was unbelievable. I was doing everything I could, going as slow as I possibly could, and I almost ended up crashing.
