Freak denies Scot Dalziel Grand-Am winposted in MSPOR06 | 03 | 2011
WISHAW'S RYAN DALZIEL was left frustrated after a freak incident robbed him of victory in the second round of the American Grand-Am Championship in Florida.
The Scot twice led the 2hour 45min endurance race and had established a comfortable lead with less than 60 minutes remaining when his Ford-Riley Daytona prototype was forecd to pit with a sudden over-heating issue.
When his crew inspected the damage they discovered a small piece of tyre from another car had punctured the radiator. Unable to repair the car, Dalziel was forced to retire and reflect on being denied victory.
"It’s nobody’s fault," the Scot admitted as he watched his crew load the car on to its trailer at the Homestead raceway in Florida.
"Sadly the piece of tyre debris was a one in a million shot to punch the radiator where it did and end our day. The win was definitely there for us, we’ll stay positive knowing that and move on.”
Dalziel's Starworks Motorsport team played the conservation game in practice and qualifying running minimum laps to preserve their full compliment of tyres for the race. As a result his team-mate Mike Forest started the Grand Prix of Miami last in class.
Forest worked his way up to sixth before Dalziel jumped in and set to work making the most of their pre-planned tyre strategy. The Scot claimed the lead for the first time an hour into the race. Then a skilled braking manouevre on Alex Gurney, in the No.99 entry, reaped second place as he racer took advantage of the American’s tyre degradation.
Dalziel then wasted little time in placing a move on the leader, Ricky Taylor, to assume control of the race around the 2.3-mile speedway road-course. He comfortably maintained his pace at the head of the pack, only surrendering P1 to Memo Rojas in the No.01 car on lap 61 as he pitted for a fresh set of rubber.
Back on-track in seventh place, Ryan once again worked his way to the front and again took the lead, this time with just over an hour remaining on the clock. But it was to prove short-lived however before he received the call to pit which eventually resulted in his second-straight retirement on the 2011 season.
“Well we couldn’t have had a better strategy to get the win today but it wasn’t to be,” Dalziel reflected. “We expected good things knowing we had plenty of tyres to work with over the competition, but I guess that's just motorsport."
The Grand Prix of Miami was eventually won by reigning champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the No.1 Chip Ganassi Racing car.
Dalziel and his Starworks Motorsport return to action in four weeks for the third round of the 2011 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 8/9.
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Jim McGill