Double Duty Driver, MICHAEL McDOWELL of Charlotte NC won his first ever
Daytona Prototype pole position Friday afternoon for Saturday's La Gran Final de la Serie Rolex Sports Car at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City at the Telmex-Tecate Gran Premio de Mexico City Presented by Banamex. How's that for a mouthful?
Young McDowell's winning lap in the #19 Make A Wish/Air Force Reserve
BMW Riley was 1:44:964/95.533 mph, and is technically a qualifying track record as this weekend is the first time Grand American Rolex Series has raced in Mexico City. McDowell's co-driver is MEMO GIDLEY, who was born in La Paz, Mexico.
Despite a very sore and injured foot, defending Rolex Series champion, SCOTT PRUETT/#01 Telmex CompUSA Lexus Riley qualified on the front row. He suffered a bad crash last weekend during the Rolex race in Atlanta.
Pruett's co-driver is crowd favourite, LUIS DIAZ of Mexico. Posters of him adorn the track and he is featured prominently in an oft-aired Telmex commercial promoting the stable of Telmex drivers.
Grasshopper, as Diaz is affectionately known in Mexico, conducted an Extrication Training Session for the local Medical/Emergency Crew who are First Response during the Grand Am sessions. It was his race car used for the demonstrations and Diaz and others explained how the Daytona Prototypes were setup.
Grand Am does not have its own Safety Crew. It relies on the local teams at each of its circuits.
Current point leader, MAX ANGELELLI/#10 Sun Trust Racing Pontiac Riley, qualified sixth. Angelelli and co-driver WAYNE TAYLOR are 32 points ahead of Pruett and Diaz in the DP standings going into the season's finale race. That should make life interesting.
