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| Daytona Race Notes: SunTrust |
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The No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley team of Wayne Taylor and Max The Ax Angelelli took their sixth straight Top Four finish tonight in the 2006 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series season with a fourth-place finish at the Brumos Porsche 250 race at Daytona International Speedway.
The SunTrust Racing team sits third in the Daytona Prototype championship standings with 322 points, ten points shy of the leading No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Riley. The No. 01 CompUSA Lexus Riley team of Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz is second with 327 points with four races remaining.
Just one caution for three laps in the 70-lap race on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course turned the race into a fuel strategy contest, as teams had hoped for and expected numerous cautions for better fuel consumption. Angelelli took over the driving duties on Lap 34 from SunTrust car owner/driver Wayne Taylor, who was in fourth before pitting. The Italian hotshoe brought the car from eighth after the pit stop, up to second by Lap 66. He tried to balance speed and fuel mileage, only to have to pit on the penultimate lap for a quick splash of fuel.
I think it was a tough race with it being a fuel mileage race, said Bill Riley, who oversees the preparation and running of the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley. Max did everything he could and we did everything we could to save fuel. We came out just about a gallon and a half short and had to stop for a splash and go.
I'm a little disappointed, said Max Angelelli, who is racing double-duty tonight with the IROC race following tonight's Grand American event. There was not much I could do with our fuel situation. I drove the whole race like having one hand tied behind my back because we needed to save fuel. There just wasn't anything I could do in the end.
We're still in the points race and I guess fourth is okay, but we can't help but be a little disappointed we couldn't quite make it on fuel, said SunTrust car owner/driver Wayne Taylor. It is still along way to go. You know what these races are like in that anything can happen. We just have to put our head down and work hard for the next race.
We're really excited that we had a good evening with another fourth-place finish, said Craig Kelly, Corporate Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of SunTrust Banks, Inc. We're still third in the points. The team worked hard, the car ran great and we're on to the next race with a smile. We're big believers that we're going to be celebrating at the end of the year.
The next race, Round 11 of 14, in the 2006 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series will be at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama on July 28-30, 2006 for the Porsche 250. The race will air live on SPEED TV at 3:00 pm ET.
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