Points lead post Mid-Ohio update

Pruett and Papis Double Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Championship Points Lead; Auberlen Takes Control of GT; Bunting & Lally Continue to Lead SGS

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 10, 2004) -- CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Pruett and Max Papis have parlayed their series-leading third race win of the year Saturday in the EMCO Gears Mid-Ohio Road Racing Classic into the biggest Daytona Prototype championship points lead of the season. After coming in to the race a scant 11 points ahead in the standings, the CompUSA teammates have now doubled their lead to 22 points ahead of their nearest and newest challenger Andy Wallace.

Pruett and Papis brought their No. 01 Lexus Riley to Mid-Ohio just ahead of two-time 2004 race winners Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor and the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley team in the championship standings. Wallace, however, stepped up at Mid-Ohio where he scored his second straight and fourth overall podium finish of the season. Wallace and Milka Duno co-drove their No. 2 CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford to a second-place finish at Mid-Ohio which boosted the Englishman to third in the standings. Pruett and Papis co-lead with 218 points, and Wallace has taken sole possession of the third spot with 196 markers.

Taylor is one point back with 195 points, while Duno now holds the fifth position with 183. Jimmy Morales used his third-place finish in the No. 02 CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley to move to sixth (174 points). Angelelli was unable to compete in Saturday's race and has fallen to seventh place with 172 points, and Didier Theys, driver of the No. 27 Doran-Lista Racing Lexus Doran is eighth with 169 points. Terry Borcheller, driver of the No. 54 Kodak Bell Motorsports Pontiac Doran, is ninth with 166 points, while Cort Wagner, driver of the No. 81 G&W Motorsports Rx.com BMW Doran rounds out the top 10 (165 points).

The No. 01 CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley continues to lead the team standings with 218 points. The No. 10 SunTrust Racing team is second with 195, while the No. 2 CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports team is closing in on second and trails the No. 10 team by only four points. Pontiac still maintains the manufacturer lead, with Lexus just three points back (234-231), and Porsche is third with 172 points. Riley leads in the chassis standings with 227 points, followed by the Crawford in second with 202 and Doran in third with 202.

After his sixth-straight class victory in the Rolex Series GT category, No. 21 Prototype Technology Group driver Bill Auberlen now leads No. 22 PTG teammate Boris Said by eight points in the GT battle (221-114). The Racer's Group No. 66 Porsche drivers Chris Gleason, Ian James and RJ Valentine finished third in Mid-Ohio, their fifth-straight podium finish, and the threesome maintain their third-place position in the points with 197.

Justin Marks, Auberlen's co-driver in the No. 21, is sixth with 188 points. Mike Fitzgerald, driver of the No. 44 Orbit Racing Porsche, is one point back in seventh. The Racer's Group No. 67 Porsche driver Kevin Buckler is eighth with 182, while Emil Assentato and Stephen Earle, co-drivers of the No. 33 Scuderia Ferrari of Washington Maserati, round out the top 10 with 168 points.

In GT team standings, the No. 21 Prototype Technology Group team increased its points lead to 20. The team leads the No. 66 The Racer's Group (221-201), while Orbit Racing is third with 187 markers. BMW leads Porsche by three points in a close battle for the top spot in the manufacturer standings (224-221). Maserati is third with 173.

No. 38 TPC Racing Porsche drivers Andy Lally and Marc Bunting continue to increase their lead in the SGS driver's point standings after finishing on the class podium for the seventh time this season. The duo finished second in the Mid-Ohio race and now has a 19-point lead over No. 36 TPC teammate Michael Levitas (223-204). After finishing first in class in the last two races, No. 41 ORISON Planet-Earth Motorsports Porsche driver Wayne Nonnamaker moves into a two-way tie for fourth with No. 37 TPC Racing Porsche driver John Littlechild (190 points).

No. 42 ORISON-Planet Earth driver Joe Nonnamaker is sixth with 180 points, while Randy Pobst, co-driver of the No. 36, drops to seventh after not competing in Saturday's race. Jean-Francois Dumoulin, who co-drove with Levitas at Mid-Ohio in Pobst's absence, is eighth with 170 points. No. 47 Michael Baughman Racing Porsche drivers Bob Ward and Michael Baughman round out the top 10 with 165 points.

The No. 38 TPC Racing team leads in the point standings with 223 points, followed by the No. 41 ORISON-Plant Earth Motorsports with 197 points, and the No. 36 TPC Racing team is third with 172 points. Porsche continues to dominate in the SGS manufacturer point standings with a 106-point lead over Chevrolet (242-136). Ferrari is third with 42 points.

The next event on the 2004 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series calendar is the Sahlen's 200 At The Glen on Friday, August 13. For tickets, call 607-535-2481 or visit www.theglen.com.

The Grand American Road Racing Association, which sanctions the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Grand-Am Cup Series, is one of the fastest growing motorsports organizations in the United States. Established in 1999, Grand American's stated goal is to bring stability to professional sports car road racing in North America. The 12-race 2004 Rolex Series schedule and the 10-race Grand-Am Cup Series calendars deliver professional sports car racing to many key markets throughout North America in addition to being televised in the United States and Canada on SPEED Channel and distributed globally through ESPN International. With title sponsorship support from Rolex Watch USA, the Rolex Sports Car Series showcases emerging and legendary drivers from around the globe and thoroughbred racing machines from the industry's leading constructors and the world's top automobile manufacturers. Learn more about Grand American at www.grandamerican.com.

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