Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. returned to victory circle in Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition for the first time since the 2012 season opener at Daytona in the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Driving the No. 61 Roush Performance Products/USANA Health Sciences/Gary Yeomans Ford Lincoln Ford Mustang Boss 302 R, Johnson took the Grand Sport (GS) class lead on Lap 37 of what would be a 70-lap race when leader Bryan Sellers made a pit stop. Johnson held on to the lead through several restarts – including one with less than five minutes remaining in the race – to score his 11th career Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge victory. It was the eighth career victory in the series for Roush, who started from eighth on the grid.
“We’ve had a lot of great runs at Mid-Ohio,” Johnson said after the race. “I like to think we could have won the last two years. It’s really nice to be able to finish first. This is my first win at Mid-Ohio. I’ve always loved this track and it’s nice to be able to come back with a first-place trophy.”
“Basically, everything lined up for us today. Jack did a great job picking off people early in the race, and then at the end I was able to hold off a group of lighter cars while our fuel came right down to the line,” Johnson continued. “We gambled on fuel today and we needed a few cautions. Fortunately, we got them.”
With the win at Mid-Ohio the No. 61 Roush Performance team now sits in sixth place in the overall team standings. The next race on the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge schedule is at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI from June 21-22.
[Source: Grand-Am]
Roush Performance earns second Grand-Am victory of the season at Mid-Ohio 
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