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Grand-Am Rolex Series Round 2 Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Segal, Assentato Take GT Victory in SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
Jeff Segal passed SpeedSource teammate Sylvain Tremblay on the race's lone restart with 13 minutes remaining and went on to win GT class honors in Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8. It was the second victory of the year for SpeedSource, with Tremblay's No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Tremblay and new regular SpeedSource co-driver Jonathan Bomarito led a GT class topping 44 laps, although Tremblay - who led 27 tours - fell back to fourth in the closing laps.
No. 41 Team Seattle/Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT drivers James Gue and Leh Keen gave Dempsey Racing its first top-three podium finish in team history. Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster co-drove to a solid seventh-place showing in the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8. It was their second top-10 finish in a row after placing sixth at the Rolex 24.
"I am thrilled for the team," said Dempsey. "It was great. This is our first podium and to have our two car team just coming out of the box and to get that result in just our second race was really wonderful. It was also good for us today, Joe and I finished seventh and that's something to build on. We are finishing consistently in the top 10 and getting points."
A turning point came on lap 81 of the two-hour, 45-minute race. The cockpit of the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8 exploded into flames, and Jordan Taylor came to a stop in the middle of pit road. The blaze was quickly extinguished and the race remained under green. Taylor was uninjured in the incident, but the Mazda started by Todd Lamb was eliminated after having a strong run.
Rounding out the top 10 were John Edwards and Adam Christodoulou, where were ninth in the debut of the SpeedSource No. 68 Nuclear Clean Air Energy Mazda RX-8, and Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker in the No. 43 Team Sahlen Mazda RX-8, who were tenth.
9.3.2010
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