6-23-2006 - Mid Ohio reports

LEXINGTON, Ohio (June 24, 2006) -- After starting last on the Daytona Prototype grid, No. 12 Lowe's Fernandez Racing Pontiac Riley co-drivers Adrian Fernandez and Mario Haberfeld drove all the way through the field to earn their first career Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve victory in Saturday's EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (SPEED, 3 p.m. ET, June 25).

The No. 12 machine--in which Haberfeld originally turned the third-fastest time in Friday's qualifying session--was moved to the rear of the grid when post-qualifying technical inspection revealed that the car was too wide. Adding further insult to injury, the car did not take its position on the starting grid, as the team battled an electrical problem with the cool-suit mechanism in the car. As a result, Haberfeld joined the field at the end of the second pace lap.

Like the No. 12 team, the No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Riley team of Colin Braun and points leader Jörg Bergmeister also started from the rear of the grid for the same post-qualifying penalty. Braun--who turned in the fastest time in Friday qualifying--started 25th as a result of the penalty. Braun quickly worked his way through the field as well, moving into the top 10 on Lap 12 of what would be a 99-lap event.

The No. 76 machine was a fixture in the top 10 from that point on. Braun turned the car over to Bergmeister in a pit stop under caution on Lap 41, and the German ran among the leaders for the rest of the event before finishing second. It was Bergmeister's second-consecutive top-two result, as he co-drove to victory in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen three weeks ago with Boris Said, and the performance allowed him to extend his lead in the Daytona Prototype driver standings to 26 points, 323-297, over No. 01 CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley co-drivers Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz, with nine of 14 races now in the books.

"The guys did an awesome job on the pit stop when I took over from Colin," said Bergmeister. "The strategy was good, even though I had to save on fuel a little bit. The (No.) 12 car risked the strategy a little more, and it worked out good for them."

It was the third podium result of the season for Braun, who also finished second in the Mexico City 250 in March and third in the Road & Track 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last month. The 17-year-old driver did not compete in Round 3 at Homestead-Miami Speedway or Round 8 at Watkins Glen International.

"I had a pretty good first stint," said Braun. "I was very cautious moving up through the traffic because I knew Jörg would be mad if there was anything wrong with the car. The car kept getting better and better during the long run. It was just real good all weekend."

June 28, 2006

By NSSN Staff

TERRY WATSON PHOTO GRAND TIME: Adrian Fernandez and Mario Haberfeld co-drove to victory Saturday afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. LEXINGTON, Ohio (Grand American Rolex Series) -- "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first" was an adage never more appropriate than here Saturday evening at the Rolex Sports Car Series's two-and-three-quarter-hour EMCO Gears Classic won by the Pontiac Riley of Adrian Fernandez and Mario Haberfeld. For the pair, their first Rolex triumph was the upside conclusion to a weekend that was nothing less than a roller-coaster ride. After qualifying in the top three, Fernandez and Haberfeld, along with the polesitting Krohn Racing Ford Riley of Colin Braun and Jorg Bergmeister and the CompUSA Lexus Riley of Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz, were sent to the back of the Daytona Prototype grid for being one-sixteenth of an inch too wide in post-qualifying inspection. Electrical issues further complicated the situation for Fernandez and Haberfeld, who did not join the field until the second of the two pace laps. Even so, some controlled but aggressive driving and a well-planned pit strategy, which saw the team make their final pit stop before the rest of the field, put them out front for good in the final stages of the race. The event was marked by six caution periods, the last of which was the result of a spectacular accident involving the BMW M3 of Joey Hand. Hand, who had taken over the class lead in the final 15 minutes from the Tafel Racing Porsche 911 GT3 of Wolf Henzler and Robin Liddell, found himself fending off the challenge of the Kelly Collins/Paul Edwards TRG Pontiac GTO-R after Edwards had likewise gotten by Liddell. Coming down the backstraight Edwards and Hand touched, sending the BMW into the grass, where it launched itself into a series of barrel rolls before finishing upside down at the side of the track. Although devastating to the car, Hand was able to crawl free, fortunately without serious consequences. At that point, with the yellow out, the field was frozen while corner workers tended to Hand and worked on cleaning up the mess as the race finished behind the pace car. Ironically, while Edwards was repassed by Liddell, he hung on for second in the GT category, the Tafel Racing driver and his partner winning the second in a row. Third in GT was claimed by the sister GTO of Andy Lally and Marc Bunting. As for the prototype contingent, while Fernandez and Haberfeld celebrated the first-ever Rolex victory, the real gainers were Bergmeister and Braun, who likewise went from the back to the front in the Ford Riley to finish second, an effort that helped cement Bergmeister's hold on the top spot in the point standings. Third in DP went to the Gainsco Pontiac Riley of Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, which had dominated in the latter stages before losing the lead during the final pit-stop round, the similar SunTrust entry of Jan Magnussen and Max Angelelli taking fourth and the Howard Boss Pontiac Crawford of Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace scoring fifth. Helping to further advance the title hopes of Bergmeister was the ill fortune which befell Diaz and Pruett, whose own championship aspirations were given a setback after they had climbed into the top three when Pruett was knocked out of the event in the last half hour, the victim of a tangle between Hoover Orsi in the Eddie Cheever Crown Royal Porsche Riley and the Frisselle brothers's Synergy Racing Porsche Doran, those two cars also retiring on the spot.