[GRAND-AM] Action Express DP Corvettes Finish 1-2 at Detroit Belle Isle

Don’t mess with a good thing, goes the old saying.

Action Express ignored that advice Sunday when it broke up the longest-running driver pairing in the paddock, giving Darren Law and David Donohue new partners after the duo had competed together in more than 100 races.

The strategy proved to be a good move by Action Express.

Law and Joao Barbosa teamed to take first place in the Daytona Prototype class at Belle Isle Park in Detroit, just ahead of second-place finishers Donohue and Terry Borcheller.

“Winning Detroit in a Chevrolet Corvette right here in front of Chevrolet’s headquarters?” Barbosa asked. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Barbosa’s daring pass of his teammate Donohue gave him the lead for good with less than 30 minutes to go, but it was a move that Donohue didn’t particularly appreciate.

“Joao didn’t give me a lot of room going into (Turn) one,” Donohue fumed. “It was a hairy move but luckily we got through and got a good finish. We made a hard run at it.”

Some tough luck befell other challengers as well.

The Gainsco DP led early with Jon Forgarty and Alex Gurney, but Gurney’s mixup in Pit Lane kept that team from winning. Gurney drove through the pits thinking incorrectly they were closed, and when he pitted after everyone had, it wound up putting him out of contention.

Another challenger, the Spirit of Daytona Corvette, also fell by the wayside when Richard Westbrook broke his right rear suspension after an optimistic move inside GT driver Joe Foster.

In the GT class, it was the #88 Autohaus Camaro with Jordan Taylor and Paul Edwards that finished first for their first win this season. The MazdaSpeed team of Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito finished second while Robin Liddell and John Edwards finished third in Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R.

“Obviously everyone came into the race a little bit blind,” said Jordan Taylor, who is already en route to Le Mans to participate in the Test Days with Corvette Racing. “We only got a limited time running in the dry so I think whoever off-loaded the truck the best was going to have a good shot at it, and we definitely had that. It’s great to have a result like this here in Detroit.”

The Rolex Sports Car Series will be back next weekend for the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED on June 9th at 4:30 PM ET.

Source:
Motorsport.com

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