It is difficult to imagine a race of long duration, about 400 km, being decided in the last lap, with a difference of less than a second between the first three placed. But this was the third stage of the Grand-Am, disputed this Saturday (19) in Mexico City, with victory for Marc Goossens, after an overtake on Scott Pruett after 28 laps. As the companion of the second placed team, Memo Rojas, who started in the pole position, was proof that any of the first four could have won.

Even Ricardo, who finished third, had trouble when he took the car, with 22 of the 100 laps completed. In the second half of the race, Goossens, Pruett, Zonta and Gurney could not be separated, and much of the time the Ricardo was the fastest of the group, pushing the car to its limits while seeking space for a possible overtake, which was not possible. Still, in his third race of this season, fourth with the team, he reached the podium. And Ricardo himself acknowledges that the chances of winning were good.

"The race was very good. The car was very fast and we could of won the race, but when I came close to the leaders I was fast in the curves, but my car could not improve the speed in the straight, the only good point for overtaking on the track. Then, I did not have any real opportunity to try for the win,"he said " but this result is very important for the championship," he added. Ricardo remains in North America because next Sunday (27) he will complete in the fourth round of the Grand Am season, in Virginia.

The podium was the reward for all the hard work of Krohn Racing in the development of the Lola chassis. And to conquer it, although with a very fast car, Ricardo needed to work a lot, especially in the straights. In one, he dropped to sixth. “It was a really good finish. The only problem was on the restart, we lost a little bit because of the speed on the straights and also the cold tires. The first two laps the tires were maybe too cold or low pressure. It made it quite difficult to hold the position. I’m very happy to finish third. I think our car was quicker over the corners but we couldn’t overtake the cars on the straights. I’m very happy and I think Nic did a very good job as well. It is good for the team and for our points for the season as well.” concluded Ricardo.

1 Marc Goossens/Jim Matthews (Pontiac Riley)

2 Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas (Lexus Riley)

3 Ricardo Zonta/Nic Jonsson (Pontiac Lola)

4 Jon Fogarty/Alex Gurney (Pontiac Riley)

5 Oswaldo Negri/Mark Patterson (Ford Riley)

6 John Pew/Ian James (Ford Riley)

1 Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas, 102 pointss

2 Marc Goossens/Jim Matthews, 86

3 Jon Fogarty/AlexGurney, 85

4 Ricardo Zonta/Nic Jonsson, 78

   Oswaldo Negri/Mark Patterson, 78

6 JC France/João Barbosa, 67