Daytona, FL (July 4, 2009) – Formerly known as the Paul Revere 250, the theme of the race was based on the famous “Midnight Ride” of Paul Revere. Now at 2:00 pm, the race is known as the Brumos Porsche 250, a 250-mile sports car race support race held on the road course at Daytona International Speedway during the weekend of the NASCAR Coke Zero 400.
The teams had a challenging day preparing for the race. The race held in the evening was compressed to meet the 2:00 pm start time. The race teams had six hours to prepare to race. Morning practice, debriefing, qualifying and drivers meetings were all compressed together, making a hectic schedule
We were headed for another Chip Ganassi victory (three in a row now) until Memo Rojas cut a tire battling with the No. 99 Gainsco car (Fogarty and Gurney). Max Angelelli held off a last-lap charge from Alex Gurney to win the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway, round seven of the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
Angelelli, who also won this event in 2004, won by .270 seconds – the fifth-closest finish in the history of the series. Angelelli led the final 33 of the 70 laps to give the SunTrust team its first victory of 2009, allowing the team drivers to close the race within one point of leaders Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. It was a very fair game,” Angelelli said after scoring his 13th career Daytona Prototype victory, second all-time. “It was a good, tough battle. It was really difficult today. Thanks to SunTrust Racing for the good car they gave me. I went out for my stint in the lead, which was really important.”
Third place went to No. 45 Orbit Racing BMW Riley for Ryan Dalziel and Bill Lester, who scored his first podium finish in Rolex Series competition.
After the legendary No. 59 Brumos Porsche Team (David Donohue and Darren Law) won the 24 hour race at Daytona in January, they had high expectations for the July race. But, the Brumos Porsche team had a rough day. Donohue had an electrical fire midway through the race, however fought back to finish 17th in their class. The Barbosa and France No. 58 car finished eighth.
Penske-Porsche also had a rough day. Even with Grand-Am upping the RPM for the Porsche?s this weekend, the Bernhard / Dumas team finished eleventh.
Bernhard and Dumas won the N
Eddie has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up).
Eddie LePineOn The RoadUnited SportsCar Championship