Wednesday, 16th April 2008

Rojas hopeful of home success.

Memo Rojas will hope to secure a home victory this weekend as the Grand Am Rolex Series heads to Mexico City for the latest round of the season.

Rojas grew up about an hour away from the race track, and made his first on-track appearance in Grand Am Rolex Series competition there last season. He and #01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley co-driver Scott Pruett finished fourth.

Now, Rojas and Pruett hold a 13-point lead over defending Rolex Series driving champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, who are again driving the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley. Pruett and Rojas are two-for-two in 2008 after winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January and backing that up in last month's GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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The win was a record 16th in Daytona Prototypes for Pruett and put the duo in position to score a record third straight series victory, a mark set six times previously.

“We have started the season on the right foot, winning at Daytona and Homestead,” Rojas said, “so we have a lot of expectations for the weekend. The Mexico racing fans enjoy racing and cheer a lot, and with a driver from Mexico, they get very excited. The fans have a lot of expectations too. I'm very excited about the opportunity to race there again – as are the team and Scott. I am just excited to start the weekend.”

Gurney and Fogarty know how to win at Mexico City, as the pair won the first of a record seven races in 2008 at the 2.5-mile track last season after Gurney's back-and-forth duel with Max Papis of Krohn Racing. Gurney and Fogarty won last year's series crown by two points over Pruett.

“We feel very good about going back to Mexico,” Gurney said. “It is much closer to the traditional road courses where we feel we do very well. We're in a great championship position and we're ready to keep building on that.”

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