Michael Valiante and his VisitFlorida.com racing team were knocked off the podium for the first time this season but still managed to hold on to a share of the lead atop the drivers’ standings.
Valiante and co-driver Richard Westbrook finished fifth in their No. 90 Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype race car at the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at the Detroit Grand Prix on 2.35-mile Belle Isle street circuit on Saturday.
Dane Cameron raced the Wheelen Engineering/Team Fox Chevy to its first Tudor United sportscar championship victory, taking the checkered flag nearly 19 seconds ahead of the second-place car of Ozzi Negri Jr. in the Michael Shank Racing Honda Ligier JS P2.
Westbrook and Valiante were approximately three seconds behind Negri’s runner-up finish in a group of four race cars vying for second place, including Action Racing’s Joao Barbosa and Joey Hand in Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ford Ecoboost Riley DP.
Valiante started the 100-minute race in third place and moved up to second and maintained that position throughout the first half of the race.
Westbrook kept the car in contention up until the final half hour, when he spun on the track and had to work his way back into fifth.
“This car had speed,” said Valiante in a team press release. “The team has been giving up great race cars all season and today was no exception.”
Valiante and Westbrook, who scored a win at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last month, started the day with a four-point lead in the Prototype drivers’ standings following podium finishes in the first four races of the United Sportscar championship season. The VisitFlorida.com team now shares top spot with defending champions Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi at 156 points apiece.
“I think we are in great shape to get back on our podium run and certainly should be able to challenge for a win at Watkins Glen and hopefully make it back-to-back in the Six Hours.”
The next event in the championship series will be the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in New York on June 28.
