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Created on Monday, 29 July 2013 08:38

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• Ryan Dalziel runs a stint and a half on Continental’s to win at Indy.

• No. 61 Ferrari team rolls to first win of 2013 on Continental’s.

Speedway, IN – July 26, 2013.  The history, the mystique, the stories – racing at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway is revered across all forms of motorsports and Friday’s GRAND-AM racing added one more for the history books.  Both the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series (CTSCCS) and the Rolex Series completed five and a half hours of racing on slick tires and Continental’s race tire, from its ExtremeContact line of tires, received rave reviews from drivers across all series.

With the North American Endurance Championship (NAEC) on the line, and the prestige of kissing the bricks, 35 teams battled it out in Rolex Series racing for three hours Friday evening.  The Daytona Prototype (DP) class shuffled positions more than a deck of cards in Vegas but in the end, it was tire strategy that played a factor into the win.  The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW took four fresh Continental’s and driver Scott Pruett was able to march his way from deep in the field to second.  But it was Ryan Dalziel, in the No. 2 Starworks BMW, who managed his tires for a stint and a half to bring home the team’s first win of the 2013 season with co-driver Alex Popow, and overtake the championship point’s position.  Pruett and co-driver, Memo Rojas, settled for second but captured the coveted NAEC in the DP class.

“In the last stint there we knew we were going to have to do about a stint and a half on (the tires) but we weren’t too concerned about it,” said Dalziel following the race.  “We felt that we were kind of trying to let the No. 99 run us down and I think they ended up running us down too hard.  And I think that’s why our two cars (points to the Ganassi team) managed to kind of pull away from the No. 99.  But the tires have been excellent this year.  I can’t say enough about it.”

Tire strategy also launched the No. 61 R. Ferri/Aim Motorsport Racing Ferrari 458 to their first win of 2013 in the Grand Touring (GT) class.  Driver Jeff Segal commented after the race that it was their pit strategy, and longevity of the tire, that won them the race.  During the final GT pit cycle, the Ferrari team opted for fuel only finishing the race on tires that were a stint and a half old.  That, combined with the driving skills of Segal and Max Papis, provided the team with the opportunity to kiss the bricks.  The Stevenson duo of Robin Liddell and John Edwards finished second but claimed the NAEC championship for the GT class.

“I think the tire performed very well and there were no inconsistencies whatsoever with the tire,” said Liddell.  “It was good and stable and consistent and obviously the infield lacks a bit of grip because it’s very different from the banking.  The banking is high grip, it’s been grooved, it’s a different asphalt altogether so we’re always struggling a bit for grip on the infield but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that the track’s just not used enough and it’s getting progressively better throughout the weekend.  My hat’s off to (Continental Tire), there’s no issues at all with the tires.”

Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long combined to give SpeedSource the victory in the GX class, marking the team’s fifth consecutive win of the season in the No. 70 MAZDASPEED/SpeedSource Mazda6.  SpeedSource also won the NAEC title for the class while Dr. Jim Norman secured the NAEC driver title.

It was a second-straight victory for Bryan Sellers and Mark Boden in the No. 46 Trim-Tex/BCKSTGR BMW M3 in Grand Sport (GS) competition.  Solid restarts were a key to the duo’s victory which finished under caution after a late race incident.  And once again, the Continental tires provided the confidence the CTSCCS field needed to drive their way into the history books.

In Street Tuner (ST) action, the twosome of Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra kissed the bricks and took over the championship point’s lead by eight points over Kyle Gimple and Ryan Eversley, who finished 19th.

The GRAND-AM Series returns to the track with the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at Road America August 10-11.  Fans can catch live coverage on SPEED and MRN.  Check local listings for times.

 Go into the garage with us @continentaltire.

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