Road America showcases best of GRAND-AM, American Le Mans Series in historic side-by-side weekend.

History will be made this weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. when the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón share their first weekend of joint competition. Each series – and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge – has its own schedule of events. But the side-by-side presentation is an early Christmas present for sports car racing fans who eagerly anticipate the merging of the two groups into United SportsCar Racing in 2014.

Road America is the first of back-to-back race weekends that will be crucial to the Rolex Series DP and GT and Continental Tire Challenge GS and ST championships. The first visit to Kansas Speedway’s infield road course/speedway layout follows on Aug. 16-17 with racing under the lights. Two races remain on the 2013 GRAND-AM schedule once the checkered flag waves in Kansas.

The DP championship lead has been a classic battle. Reigning champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas and the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW/Riley won the Rolex 24 At Daytona but incidents at Belle Isle and Mid-Ohio dropped them down the standings.

As the defending VISITFLORIDA.com Sports Car 250 DP winner, the Ganassi team hopes to regain some lost ground.

Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor entered Indianapolis tied for the lead, but failed to finish in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP and are now third in the standings

Brickyard Grand Prix winners Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel now hold the lead alone in the No. 2 Starworks with Alex Popow BMW/Riley. They have a 10-point lead over former champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, whose No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP won earlier this season at Circuit of The Americas.

Wins are nice but they don’t always guarantee a team the top spot on the points table. That’s the case in the Rolex Series’ production-based GT class where Andy Lally and John Potter have used their No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche’s consistency to forge a four-point lead over the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet of Robin Liddell and John Edwards.

Liddell and Edwards have won four of the eight races contested so far but three finishes of 10th or worse have them running second in the standings. Lally and Potter, conversely, have not placed below sixth.

The Magnus outfit’s title hopes came apart a year ago at Road America when the Porsche’s engine failed late in the race.

“We’re definitely looking for redemption this year,” said team owner Potter. “Consistency has been a huge factor in our championship this year but we need to win races if we have any hope of keeping the field behind us.”

Lally believes the remaining tracks – with long straights and high speeds – play into the hands of the team’s rivals.
“A win is going to be critical for us in the championship,” he said.

Last year’s GT champion, the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD with Ferrari 458, stands fourth, 14 points behind the No. 44. Emil Assentato shares the cockpit with Anthony Lazarro with 2012’s co-champion Jeff Segal moving to the No. 61 R. Ferri/AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari.

Mazda continues to make history in GRAND-AM’s GX class where Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long gave SpeedSource its sixth consecutive victory several weeks ago. The Maxda6 SKYACTIV-D clean diesel power plant became the first diesel to win a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Dr. Jim Norman, driver of the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman, however, retains an eight-point lead over SpeedSource’s Joel Miller, driver of the No. 00 Mazda6. Tremblay and Long are 10 points back in third.

Road America is as close as Fall-Line Motorsports gets to a “home” race as the Northbrook, Ill. team bids to add a third consecutive Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS victory. Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers drove to team’s No. 46 BMW M3 to victories at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis.

Rum Bum Racing’s Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi, however, are the class leaders by a hefty 33 points over John Edwards and Matt Bell, whose No. 9 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro retired with suspension damage at Indianapolis.

Longhi and Plumb are bidding to defend last year’s Road America 200 victory.

Burton Racing and Compass360 Racing continue to battle at the top of Continental Tire Challenge’s ST points. The No. 23 BMW 128i and No. 75 Honda Civic Si – and drivers Mike LaMarra/Terry Borcheller and Kyle Gimple/Ryan Eversley – are separated by just eight points.

Burton’s No. 23 comes off a class victory at Indianapolis where Compass360’s No. 75 finished a disappointing 19th.

Saturday’s Rolex Series event will be broadcast live on SPEED at 5 p.m. ET. The Continental Tire Challenge event can be seen on FOX Sports 2 at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 17.
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