Pruett Holds Fast for Fontana Win

Calling on all the cunning of his 20 years of experience, Scott Pruett put on another clinic of race-car driving Sunday when he came from behind and then held off late-charging Max Angelelli to win the closest finish in Grand American sports car history Sunday at California Speedway.

The 45-year-old Sacramento veteran of NASCAR, CART, SCCA Trans Am, IROC and professional karting took the checkered flag in his CompUSA Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley. He was just 0.096 seconds ahead of Angelelli’s SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley after the two of them weaved through lapped cars on the final lap around the 21-turn, 2.8-mile road circuit.

The race ended dramatically as they came upon a GT car, driven by Ian James, coming off the final turn before the finish line. Pruett ducked to the inside and Angelelli took the high road, but he couldn’t catch the leader.

It was the first loss for Angelelli and co-driver Wayne Taylor, who won the 24 Hours of Daytona and at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“I think I was pretty lucky with the traffic,” Angelelli said. “He got stuck so I could gain a little bit. We were so equal, I think he had just a little bit more than me.”

Luis Diaz, the pole-sitter, had turned the car over to Pruett on Lap 21 of what turned out to be a race stopped after 86 laps because of a 2-hour 45-minute time limit. Diaz, who had an orange cone caught in the car’s windshield, was in fourth place at the time, but by the time the crew removed the cone and assessed the damage, Pruett was 19th when he took off.

The stray cone wasn’t the only problem; the Lexus was without its power steering.

“The power steering was kind of working on the infield, but it wasn’t working on the banking at all,” Pruett said. “The thing was a bear to drive. But Luis did a great job, and we hung on to the end.”

It was Pruett’s second consecutive win at Fontana for Ganassi. Last year he was partnered by Max Papis, who was replaced by Diaz.

“It feels great, especially with these types of drivers,” said the Mexico City driver of his first win in the Rolex series.

The Diaz-Pruett team did not lead until Lap 65 when leader Michael Valiante pitted and Pruett took over for the remaining 22 laps. There were six lead changes, with Valiante and Pruett each leading 22. Jorg Bergmeiser led 20, including the first 12 after jumping Diaz on the start. Burt Frisselle led 18.

Defending series GT champion Bill Auberlen of Santa Monica teamed with Joey Hand of Sacramento in a BMW B3 to win the GT portion of the Rolex series race. They finished 17th overall. Second was a Porsche GT3 driven by Marc Bunting of Monkton, Md., and Andy Lally of Dacula, Ga.

“We had to preserve the tire pressure and hang in there trying to get to the fuel window,” Auberlen said. “I was trying to give the car to Joey in one piece. He carried it home, and he did a great job.

“I’ve never won here where I consider it my home track, and it’s been frustrating. We’ve led tons of laps here and then we’d always have bad luck. It’s been killing me, but we finally got it off our back and won.”