Darren Law was back on the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series podium on Saturday, after a strong race on the 2.709-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal. Canadian-born Law, now living in Phoenix, shared driving duty with David Donohue of Malvern, Pa. The pair drove a consistent, fast pace to finish third.
Donohue qualified third in the pair's No. 5 Action Express Racing Porsche-powered Riley Daytona Prototype. He drove the opening stint, holding third until the driver change to Law after 44 minutes of the two-hour race. Law returned to the track fourth, then moved up to third after the final round of pit stops. He opened up a 10-second gap to fourth place until the race's only caution period, just before the finish.
"That was a great race for us," Law enthused. "We rolled off the truck fairly quick and we had a great qualifier. We didn't have enough for the [second-place] 10 and [race-winning] 99, but we had the rest of the field covered. David had a great opening stint, ran third, brought it in third and I brought it home in third. It's good to be back on the podium.
"The caution was a mixed blessing," he acknowledged. "It was helpful because I was so hot, but it was hurtful because I had quite a gap on fourth and I didn't want that to close up. Luckily, the team kept me informed on how we were doing for lap times. I was running a quicker pace than the fourth-place car, so I figured, 'As long as I just run my pace, I'll have it.' So it worked out."
Both Donohue and Law led the race briefly, as their competitors pitted for fuel and tires earlier than the Action Express DP. Quick crew work kept them in contention for the podium finish.
"Everyone else gets a little bit better mileage than us, so they can afford to pit early and just go to the end. We had to run it a little longer and make sure we had enough fuel. That's why we stretched it a bit in the middle," Law explained. "But the crew did a great job. They've been working so hard this year. There have been several races that probably could have gone our way, where we've had some bad luck, but they've done everything right."
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