Ryan Dalziel soaked up late-race pressure to lead SAMAX Motorsport to its maiden victory in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, but admitted that it was pretty much 'win or bust' in the closing stages at Laguna Seca.
The 26-year old Scot had partnered team-mate Henri Zogaib to the second step of the podium last time out at Virginia International Raceway, but ensured that the top spot was finally to be his, having recorded three runner-up spots previously with Peter Baron's outfit.
Dalziel steered the #2 BMW-powered Riley
Daytona Prototype into the lead on lap 76 of the
RumBum.com 250, and duly held his own through to the chequered flag on lap 98, but admitted that his race could have been better.
The former Champ Car hopeful's shot at the lead came shortly after a restart deep into proceedings, when he made the most of a three-wide pass to move ahead of both Virginia winner Scott Pruett and Riley-Matthews pilot Marc Goossens. The Belgian kept Dalziel honest in the closing stages, the pair even dicing off-track as they both ran into the dirt at the notorious Corkscrew turn following a restart with 15 minutes remaining, but Dalziel kept his nerve to claim the win by 1.504secs.
The last few laps were pretty emotional for me, the SAMAX man said afterwards, I got a good jump on the restart and saw I had the legs on Pruett and Goossens to pass for the lead, but I was a little bit angry at myself later.
"I made a mistake on the other restart and got a tyre off, but there was absolutely no way I was going to give up a victory for myself, for Henri and for the SAMAX crew. It was going to end up in the tyres or in victory lane, so I'm stoked it turned out to be the second option!
