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| Bergmeister and Long Hold on For Win at Mazda Raceway |
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No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche Crawford co-drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long helped establish a new Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve record by becoming the fifth different winners in five races to start the season in Sunday's U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Bergmeister claimed the lead from Jon Fogarty with 32 laps remaining when Fogarty brought the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley onto pit lane for its final pit stop and to turn the car over to co-driver Alex Gurney. With the second, third and fourth place cars filling his mirrors throughout the closing laps, however, Bergmeister was forced to conserve fuel in order to make it to the finish.
Bergmeister's big break came on Lap 89 of the 91-lap race, when Matthew Alhadeff brought out the day's seventh and final full-course caution period when he slid the No. 05 Luggage Express Team Sigalsport BMW Riley into the gravel trap at Turn 4. However, there were still a few nervous moments for the team as Bergmeister still had to make it to the finish line without running out of fuel, but the German did just that to make it five winners in five races, topping the previous record of four to start the 2004 season.
We were rolling the dice, Bergmeister said. I really don't know how much fuel we had left in the car. I got a low fuel warning on the white flag lap, and I was pretty sure we were going to make it there. When I knew it was going to be about six minutes left, I thought, Wow, this is going to be close.' But it worked out well, even on the last restart. I was really lean on the fuel, and trying to conserve as much as I could. We had great strategy today and we really needed this. We've had such a tough start to the season, and it's good to be back.
It was the first win for the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team since Long and Mike Rockenfeller took the victory in last year's VIR 400. It was also Bergmeister's first win since the 2006 event at Barber Motorsports Park, the last of three wins he scored en route to the Daytona Prototype title. The victory tops the team's previous best 2007 result of fifth at Mexico City in March.
It feels great, personally and for the team, Long said. It's been one of the most humbling 12 months of our own careers, but that's what makes it all the much sweeter. We needed a little bit of luck from the racing gods today on the fuel strategy. I don't know if I can stomach many more of those races. I'm still a little tranquilized by that one. It was good. We had a car that could race all weekend, and that's the first time we felt consistently up there in all the sessions this weekend, so that's a positive thing. It's guys like those on the Ganassi team that make us work that much harder, and again, it's a humbling experience after all the adversity we've been through. It's great to be back up here, and hopefully we can carry the momentum into this rest of this season and race with these guys week in and week out.
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