The Banner Engineering No. 07 Pontiac GXP.R with drivers Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards backed-up their pole position by winning the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami GT race on March 29, 2008.  

Kelly Collins started the No. 07 Banner GXP.R from the pole and led right up to a few laps before handing the car over to Paul Edwards.  The yellow hampered race, nine caution periods for 33 laps, kept the teams guessing on strategy.  The Banner team performed faultless pit stops and the drivers were able to avoid the on track carnage to win.

 “I was able to get really good restarts,” Edwards said.  “With the yellows we could cool the tires and then they would be good for a couple of laps before they went away a little.  This allowed me to keep the gap to the guys behind.  We haven’t been very good at this track in the past, so the win is a great effort.  On Thursday, Chuck [Houghton, team engineer] made some big changes to the suspension.  The changes really freed up the car and that helped Kelly to get the pole.  The move was pretty daring right before qualifying, but it worked out.  The tires stayed under us the whole race and the car was really good throughout the stint.  It is a nice win for the team after a tough Rolex 24.”

“It was pretty clean running at the front,” Collins said.  “With the restarts I didn’t have any problem with the DP cars, except at the end of my stint when I ran up on some slow cars and two GT guys got around me.  The car is really good through the infield and in the braking zones.  I am really surprised we were this strong here.  The run was calm, cool and collected.  The guys had the strategy right and performed great pit stops.  Paul did a good job to keep it clean and bring home the win.”