Ganassi Organization, Pruett, Rojas Raise The Championship Bar Another Notch Higher

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas didn’t exactly steamroll the competition in 2012. There were plenty of wins to go around – and the No. 01 BMW/Riley got just two of them. But those victories at Road America and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal among eight podium finishes were sufficient to raise the bar – again – in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. The Ganassi organization claimed its sixth Daytona Prototype championship while Pruett and Rojas won titles five and four, respectively.

The battle for the championship went down to the GRAND-AM Championship Weekend presented by BMW at Lime Rock Park finale in which a seventh-place finish was enough to give Ganassi, Pruett and Rojas the title by a 379-367 count over Starworks Motorsport and Ryan Dalziel.

“Racing and winning never get old – even though I do,” said Pruett, 52, who extended his DP victory record to 38. The Montreal victory was particularly sweet marking the 150th win for the Ganassi organization that competes in GRAND-AM, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the IZOD IndyCar Series.

The Pruett-Rojas tandem has been nearly unstoppable since winning its first title together in 2008. Since the following season’s near miss, the team has won three consecutive championships.

Chevrolet won the 2012 DP engine manufacturers’ championship by a 424-389 point margin over arch-rival Ford. Riley won the chassis builders’ title by a 427-400 point count over Coyote.

Ferrari returned to GRAND-AM GT competition in a big way sweeping team, driver and manufacturer titles. The No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD with Ferrari organization, based in Canada, won in its GT debut with 2010 GT champions Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato.

AIM, co-owned by Ian Willis and Andrew Bordin, previously competed in the Daytona Prototype winning twice.

Segal and Assentato wrapped up the driver championship a race early at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The only remaining suspense at Lime Rock was whether Ferrari would capture the manufacturers’ title. Scuderia Corsa’s No. 63 458 Italia driven by Alessandro Balzan and Johannes van Overbeek finished third to give Ferrari a seven-point edge over Chevrolet.