[1]The #99 Corvette DP, known as the "Red Dragon" scored yet another victory for the Corvette Daytona Prototypes at the Grand Am of the Americas.
Jon Fogarty made a bold statement after qualifying first in the #99 Gainsco/Bob-Stallings Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype before last weekend’s Grand Am of The Americas. He called his shot, and boldly told reporters and teammates [2] “We are going to win!”
As it turns out, he was right.
[3]During Qualifying Jon Fogarty secured the pole position for the Red Dragon and extended his reputation as a consistent top qualifier.
The Gainsco/Bob Stallings team was driving on what equates to their home turf at the new Circuit of the Americas [4](COTA), in Austin, Texas. The team is based out of the Dallas area, and Gainsco was co-sponsor of the event and flew in over 500 guests for the race. Adding to the home-team advantage was the fact that Fogarty was afforded the opportunity to lap the fresh track when he participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony last year. Given that the Grand Am of the Americas was the first-ever Grand Am race at COTA, this gave him a significant advantage over the other drivers. After taking his first laps of COTA, Fogarty’s co-driver, Alex Gurney commented, “There are a lot of areas where you can overdo it and make a mistake. We are going to see a lot of that tomorrow.”
At the start of the race the next day, Fogarty was the first to drive the #99 Gainsco Corvette DP. In spite of starting in the pole position Fogarty and the “Red Dragon” hovered around 2nd or 3rd place for most of his stint. When Gurney took over at the halfway point it was still anyone’s race. However, a few key mistakes by other drivers and a strategic pit stop late in the race paid off for the team. The final seven laps were the only ones the #99 Corvette DP led, but that was more than enough to secure them the checkered flag [5].
Fogarty and Gurney secured the victory in spite of only leading he final seven laps of the race.
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