McMurry Leads 13 Laps In 100th Career Race

Subtitle:Notes and Quotes from the Lone Star Le Mans

Matt McMurry reflected on pit road at Circuit of The Americas moments before strapping into the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports ORECA FLM09. At 17 – the Phoenix, Arizona resident turns “legal” on November 24 – was about to compete in his 100th career race.

“It’s weird, thinking I was still go-karting four years ago,” McMurry said. “I only started racing cars a couple of years ago. But I’ve done so many 

races since then.”McMurry etched his name in the record books last year when he became the youngest driver to compete in – and finish – the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at age 16. He also raced in the IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda and the European Le Mans Series in 2014.Aside from Le Mans, McMurry recorded a career highlight at Watkins Glen International in July.“My first race in a Prototype Challenge (PC) car was in Watkins Glen,” McMurry said. “That was pretty great. The deal was last minute as it gets. We were at the track, not sure if we were going to do it or not, and then we ended up finishing third with two rookie drivers and a pro.”Martin Plowman was the pro driver in that effort for Bar 1 Motorsports, joined by McMurry and Daniel Burkett.Another red-letter race was the 2015 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, where he finished fifth with Michael Shank racing with Curb/Agajanian, co-driving the No. 60 Ligier JS P2/Honda with John Pew, Ozz Negri and AJ Allmendinger. McMurry then went out and recorded another career highlight.  While he finished fifth in the Lone Star Le Mans, he led 13 laps and was leading the race when he pitted to turn the car over to Mikhail Goikhberg.Now, McMurry is getting ready for his next race weekend, Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda.“I can’t talk about that yet, we still haven’t announced it,” said McMurry, who was confirmed on Tuesday as re-joining Negri and Pew in the No. 60 AERO Ligier JS P2/Honda for Road Atlanta. He will also drive in both IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites races that weekend, boosting his career total to 103 races.DeltaWing Runs Out Front: The No. 0 Claro/Trac Fone DeltaWing DWC13 of Memo Rojas and Katherine Legge led its first laps of the season during the final 45 minutes at Circuit of The Americas.Rojas – who co-drove to victory in Texas with Scott Pruett in 2014 – led four laps down the stretch before being passed by Joey Hand in his former car with less than 40 minutes remaining. Rojas remained in contention and was running third with 25 minutes remaining when an off-course excursion resulted in a seventh-place finish, the team’s second-best result of the season coming off a sixth-place finish at Road America.“We tried an aggressive strategy, which almost worked out,” Rojas said. “We needed another yellow at the end but it was nice to lead the race for a bit and fight for a podium. I was trying to keep the tires from locking, but I was fighting for third and eventually one lock-up was enough to flat-spot the tire, which led to the spin. There still is work to do, but I’m looking forward to Petit.”Four Tires Trumps Track Position: While taking on only two tires to gain track position on its final pit stop proved to be the key to victory for the Stevenson Motorsports in Friday’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race, Wayne Taylor Racing decided not to change tires on its final stop in the Lone Star Le Mans to gain track position.Ricky Taylor took on fuel only on the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP with 45 minutes remaining, and was the first driver to exit pit road in the car started by his brother Jordan. He ran second for four laps behind DeltaWing driver Memo Rojas, who did not pit. Joey Hand, driving the No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley started by Scott Pruett, passed both Taylor and Rojas on lap 55 and led the final 19 circuits."Jordan had a great start, putting us in a good position,” said Ricky Taylor. “From that point on, we were the best of the non-Ganassi cars. They had us covered all weekend. Even though we didn’t have the pace of the No. 01, the Konica Minolta guys had a great strategy of not taking tires near the end to get ahead. But (Hand) caught me pretty fast and was able to get out ahead. Hopefully we can go into Petit and get him back.”TOTAL Pole Award Clinched in GTD: Dion von Moltke wrapped up the TOTAL Pole Award one race early by taking his second consecutive GT Daytona (GTD) pole for Paul Miller Racing. It was his fourth pole of the year, with Patrick Lindsey the only other two-time pole winner. In addition to the recent race at VIRginia International Raceway, von Moltke collected poles at Detroit and Lime Rock Park. The TOTAL Pole Award for the three remaining classes will go down to qualifying at Petit Le Mans.“Iceman” Helps Turner Land Second: Turner Motorsport poked fun at longtime team race strategist Don Salama throughout the weekend. Will Turner had “Don Salama is The Ice-Man” posters through his team’s work area, and the team owner also handed out stickers of Salama relaxing with a cool drink in a photo taken during his recent vacation in Iceland.Atop the pit box in the 97-degree Texas heat, Salama kept his cool and made the right calls. While the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 started by Mike Marsal was running seventh with 40 minutes remaining, Markus Palttala worked his way to the front to finish second. It was his first podium finish of the season, as he missed the team’s victory at Lime Rock Park where Marsal won with former Turner driver and 2014 GTD champion Dane Cameron.“It was close, and at the moment I am not happy-happy,” Palttala said after the race. “But this is very nice. I’m wanted a podium, and it was a job well done.”Marsal had one word for the race, fantastic. Make that a Fantastic Four.“It was a fantastic effort for the entire team,” he said. “We had no radio for the entire race, but everyone came together and put together a fantastic car. To come from where we were to finish second is fantastic. We both drove a fantastic race, and the result shows. This weekend was all about Dan Salama. He got a nice shout-out from Calvin Fish and FOX Sports at VIR, so we had posters, hats and bumper stickers made up for this weekend.”Second for Ganassi: While the victory was the first of the year for Pruett and Hand in the No. 01 entry, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates won the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson drove the team’s No. 02 Ford EcoBoost/Target Riley.