HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 6, 2010) - Scott Pruett held off a late charge by David Donohue to win Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami, Round 2 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

 Pruett and Memo Rojas scored their second victory in three years at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley, holding off the No. 59 Brumos Porsche Riley of Donohue and pole winner Darren Law by .255 seconds.

In GT, Jeff Segal passed SpeedSource teammate Sylvain Tremblay on the race's lone restart with 13 minutes remaining and went on to win in the No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8. It was the third triumph in the last six races for Segal and Emil Assentato.

"I sure didn't want to see that last caution, but I was happy for the fans," Pruett said after scoring his 23rd Rolex Series overall victory. "This is tough competition. You never know what's going to happen until the checkered flag falls. It was pretty exciting in my seat, that's for sure."

Donohue was able to pull up to the back of Pruett several times in the closing laps, but was unable to get by. Pruett managed to weave through GT traffic in the infield on the final lap, and maintained the lead through the superspeedway banking.

Alex Gurney finished third in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Riley started by Jon Fogarty. Burt Frisselle finished fourth in AIM Autosport's No. 61 Pacific Mobile Ford Riley, followed by Ryan Dalziel in the debut of the No. 8 Starworks BMW Riley started by Mike Forest, the leading Daytona Prototype Pro-Am driver in the event.

A turning point came on Lap 81 of the two-hour, 45-minute race. The cockpit of the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8 exploded into flames, and Jordan Taylor came to a stop in the middle of pit road. The blaze was quickly extinguished and the race remained under green, but Taylor's car was stopped at the center of the pit lane when Law pitted in the race-leading No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley.

"There was a car on fire, there were people on pit lane, and I almost came to a stop," Law explained. "I didn't want to hit anybody. It's unfortunate, because I lost all of the gap I had gained. Up until then, I was feeling really, really good."

Taylor was uninjured in the incident, but the Mazda started by Todd Lamb was eliminated after having a strong run.

"It wasn't as big a fire as it looked," Taylor said. "It ended up being some of the insulation in the exhaust catching fire."

Donohue replaced Law on the ensuing pit stop. Pruett took the lead in the exchange and led the rest of the way.

Pruett and Rojas averaged 107.196 mph, completing 129 laps on the 2.3-mile circuit, and took the points lead by six (67-61) over Ryan Dalziel. The race remained caution-free until Lap 115, for debris in Turns 4 and 8. Law led a race-high 71 laps, followed by Pruett with 48. Other race leaders included Fogarty, who led the opening six laps, and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who led two laps in the No. 95 Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley.

Rolex 24 At Daytona winners Terry Borcheller and Dalziel each led one lap in different cars. Borcheller was running in contention in the Daytona-winning No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley. Joao Barbosa, the 2009 Homestead winner seeking his third consecutive Rolex Series victory, went behind the wall early in his shift to replace the heat exchanger.

Tremblay and new regular SpeedSource co-driver Jonathan Bomarito led a GT class leading 44 laps in the Rolex 24 winning No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8.

Tremblay, who led 27 laps, fell back to fourth in the closing laps, but he and Bomarito maintained the points lead by three (63-60) over Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis, who finished second in the No. 57 Stevenson Automotive Group/Vin Solutions Camaro. Finishing third were Leh Keen and James Gue in the No. 41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8.

Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand finished a solid fifth in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M6. The car ran only three laps in practice prior to the race and did not qualify due to problems with the power steering. Team owner Will Turner installed a power steering unit from a Daytona Prototype prior to the race, and Auberlen and Hand ran in contention throughout the event, with Hand leading four laps.

Paul Edwards started from the GT pole in the Banner Racing No. 07 Mobil 1 Corvette and led the opening 31 laps before turning the car over to motorcycle legend Scott Russell. Edwards returned to the car for the closing shift, finishing sixth - one position ahead of Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster in the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8.

Ted Ballou and Andy Lally had the highest-finishing Porsche, placing eighth in the No. 66 AXA Porsche GT3.

The next race for the GRAND-AM Rolex Series will be the April 10 Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.

            HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 6, 2010) - Jack Roush Jr. left Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday night displeased with losing his first GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge pole position.

            But Saturday, he left the track in a completely different mood, as he and Billy Johnson won their second Grand Sport (GS) race together, the two-and-a-half hour, 91-lap Homestead 200, in the No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT. For Johnson, it was his second consecutive victory at the 2.3-mile, 11-turn road course, in a car that advanced 33 positions from start to finish.

            In the Street Tuner class, Tom Long led Lawson Aschenbach by 0.103 seconds in a reversal of the top two cars from the class race last year at Homestead-Miami. Long was joined by Derek Whitis in the No. 25 Aventura Technologies/PFC Mazda MX-5.

            Roush originally set a track record Friday but his time was disallowed following post-qualifying technical inspection, an unapproved part to blame. But that didn't deter Roush, who was among the fastest in every session during the weekend. Starting 34th, he passed 10 cars on the first lap and was up to 21st after two laps. He finally took the lead on Lap 35.

            Johnson took over on Lap 39, and kept the duo among the top five and eventually into second as late as the final half hour. That's when Johnson was attempting to catch Matt Plumb, co-winner of this season's opening race at Daytona.

            Plumb took over from Miami native Gian Bacardi during the race's first caution period, around the 30-minute mark, and pitted again with enough fuel and solid tires to go the remainder of the race. But with 20 minutes remaining, he went from leading to retired.

            Driving the No. 13 RumBum.com BMW M3, Plumb hit the rear of Eric Curran's No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 in Turn 1, as Curran got bottled up behind slower traffic. The impact forced the hood of the No. 13 to come up, and Plumb in a precarious position, driving cautiously around the track with his windshield covered.

            Plumb managed to make it to the final turn before hitting barrels filled with sand at the pit entrance. The sand and debris from the barrels forced the final of four caution periods, and put Johnson in front. He never looked back when the green flag flew on Lap 87, and charged to a 2.561-second victory.

            It marked Johnson's seventh series victory and third in the Grand Sport class..

            "Jack did have quite a bit of fun today," said Johnson, who led twice for nine laps. "He did an amazing job in qualifying. He went through the entire field today, which is no easy feat with the caliber of drivers at this track. He handled it like a pro. He kept the fenders clean and just moved through everyone. He turned the car over in one piece for, gave us good track position and I took it from there. I had to work through a few people myself, but I was able to come out on top again."

            For Roush Jr., who celebrated with his father, Jack Roush Sr., in Victory Lane, it was a complete turnaround of emotions from close to 24 hours earlier.

"It was real exciting race for us," Roush Jr. said. "I can't be more proud of my team and all the work they've done. It was a real privilege to be part of history with the Roush Racing group. I also have to hand it to my co-driver, Billy Johnson. He did an awesome job today. I'm looking forward to many more races."

The win was also Roush Sr.'s 400th as a car owner. In nearly 40 years as an owner, Roush Sr. has also won in NASCAR's three National series, Trans-Am and IMSA.

            Finishing runner-up for the second time in three races were Terry Borcheller and Andrew Hendricks in the No. 45 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, while third were Joey Hand and Michael Marsal in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3.

            Defending driver champion Ken Wilden leapt five positions during his stint in the No. 59 Stay-Nu/RehagenRacingProducts.com Ford Mustang GT was fourth with co-driver Bob Michaelian, pushing the car's top-10 streak to 19 consecutive races, while No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 co-drivers Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub were fifth. Putman and Espenlaub left the track with a seven-point advantage (64-57) over Borcheller and Hendricks in the standings.

            In ST, Long took the victory on the last lap from Aschenbach, who was trying to give Compass360 Racing its second straight victory both in a race and at the track. Instead, it was Long, who battled tooth-and-nail with Compass360's No. 74 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si a year ago, coming up with a pass on Aschenbach and his second victory in three races with Whitis, who started fourth.

            Long first took the lead on Lap 45, and battled for several laps with Sam Schultz and James Clay. After Long assumed the lead following the final caution period, he led for two laps, before Aschenbach got by for a lap. Long made the final of 13 ST lead changes on Lap 88, and held on by just 0.103 seconds.

            Last season, Long finished 0.129 seconds behind the No. 74, which was piloted by Randy Pobst and Christian Miller; the car went on to win the championship.

            "It was like déjà vu, but this time, our Mazda came out on top," Long said. "The MX-5 handled well in the infield, and the parity in the class made for a great race."

            Whitis also won with Long in last season's finale at Virginia International Raceway. He is a team owner of Freedom Autosport with Rhett O'Doski.

             "We fought the entire way, and it was a little nerve-wrecking in those final laps, waiting to see if the race would finish the same or different from last year," Whitis said. "Everything worked out though."

            It appeared another Compass360 machine was going to dominate the race. Rookie Zach Lutz, in only his second series start, mustered the lead away from polesitter Sarah Cattaneo in Turn 1 and led the opening 35 laps of that race's 88 circuits.

            Soon after relinquishing the seat to co-driver Ryan Eversley, however, the No. 75 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si's engine let go in Turn 1, ending a promising day for the front row starters. They finished 30th.

            Aschenbach and Thilenius now lead the standings by seven (67-60) over fourth-place finishers Seth Thomas and Bill Heumann in the No. 81 Performance Friction/RAYS Engineering BMW 328i. Thomas led seven laps during the race. Third were BJ Zacharias and Craig Conway in the No. 198 Cruise America/Four Winds RV Mini Cooper S, the first-ever podium finish for RSR Motorsports. Teammates Cattaneo and VJ Mirzayan in the No. 197 Cruise America/Four Winds RV Mini Cooper S finished 27th.

            APR Motorsport drivers Josh Hurley and Kevin Stadtlander advanced a race-high 27 positions to finish fifth after starting 32nd. Both are Miami area residents - Hurley from Copper City and Stadtlander from Miami.