Grand American Rolex

But for Rojas, it’s been no easy road to his first title and the first-ever major racing championship for any Mexican driver.

It’s hard to believe that just two years ago, Rojas’ promising open-wheel career had apparently come to an end as one of many talented young drivers who had the ability, but not the financing to move up the ranks in the fractured open-wheel racing world. Rojas had just finished his second season without a full-time ride, with only a handful of tests and promises of one-off rides.

“I had my sights set on open wheel racing as a young driver, Indy cars or Formula One,” admits Rojas. “But as we all know, open wheel racing in North America was really going through some tough times over the past few years. There were very few seats available and a lot of drivers out there for them. And most of those that were available were for drivers that brought money.”

That’s when Rojas’ career path took a turn for the better when a seat became available for Chip Ganassi Racing’s Grand-Am program.

“In the end, not getting an open-wheel ride, turned out to be the best thing that ever could have happened,” beams Rojas. “Having a ride here with Chip Ganassi Racing is a dream come true. It’s turned out to be one of the best career moves I could have made. And now, winning a championship…I can tell you, I don’t miss open-wheel racing anymore.”

While Rojas’ racing future was resolved after being chosen among a number of candidates in an extended testing process, the path he chose wasn’t going to be an easy one. The young open-wheel racer had never raced a sports car and in joining the championship-winning Ganassi team, only one thing would be expected from their inexperienced rookie – WIN.

“Last year was a difficult situation,” said Rojas. “I was basically thrown into a championship fight as a rookie, after two years without a full-time ride. Plus, it was my first time racing in sports cars, so the learning curve was as steep as it could get.

“As a rookie it’s a little bit like a kid growing up, you normally learn by making mistakes – you trip and fall, but learn how to walk. I had to learn the hard way last year, learning how to drive these cars without the ability to make a major mistake because when you drive with Scott Pruett and for a team like Chip Ganassi Racing, they expect to win championships. So, I had to be cautious and couldn’t risk the car and it all came during a major battle for the championship that went down to the last lap of the last race.”

While the team fell agonizingly short of winning the title after a controversial call in the 2007 finale, the end result was a better prepared and more experienced Rojas in the car at Daytona this past January.

“This year, it was just so much different,” says Rojas. “You know the tracks, you know the car, you know the team. Scott and I work really well together. We know what each other like in the race car. The season started off great by winning at Daytona, then I won my first couple of pole positions. I was able to run quick and Scott, as always, did a great job. The important thing was not only our speed, but we also were able to stay away from mistakes – and really, we’re one of the few teams out here that was able to avoid major problems. The team always provides us with a great car and our Lexus engines were not only fast, but they’re tremendously reliable.”

And the end result was a series-high six victories, as Rojas and Pruett went on to win races at Homestead, Virginia, Watkins Glen, the Daytona sprint race in July and at Barber Motorsports. With such a strong start right out of the box, the Lexus duo were able to clinch both the driver’s and team championships at New Jersey with one race remaining and Rojas had gone from inexperienced rookie to Grand-Am champion.

“Winning the Rolex Series championship is my greatest career achievement,” said the Mexico City native. “It really means a lot to me because it’s one of the most competitive racing championships in North America. Some of the best drivers from around the world are here and to win a championship against drivers of this caliber is a tremendous feeling.

“What I like about Grand-Am is it brings together so many talented drivers from all sorts of racing backgrounds. Just look at the 24 hours of Daytona, you have Indy car champs, NASCAR champions, sports car champions and Formula One drivers. It can’t get better than that. And throughout the season, we have great drivers from all over the world, F1 drivers like Ricardo Zonta, great sports car racers from Europe like Max Angellelli and Marc Goosens, drivers like Jan Magnussen, who’s raced in a number of top series, plus, you have a lot of the top drivers from North America like my teammate Scott Pruett. And a lot of the most talented open-wheel racers in America, guys like Michael Valiante, Memo Gidley or Jon Fogarty – all who have won in the open-wheel series, but just had no Indy car rides available to them – have ended up here. It’s really cool to be banging wheels with all of them.”

Of course, this championship means a little extra for Rojas. He considers it not only his title, but one owned by all the people in his native Mexico.

“In my country, we haven’t had a champion from Mexico in any major motorsports championship, so I am fortunate to be the first one. We’ve had great drivers like Adrian Fernandez who have won races before, but no one has ever won a championship. So it’s a great honor to win this championship, not only for me, but for all of Mexico. Mexico has a great history of road course racing dating back to the days of F1 and the Rodriguez brothers. Now, there’s a big Grand-Am following in Mexico. The fact that the people of Mexico have somebody to cheer for every race has really helped the series grow in popularity. The people back home are really excited and it’s really going to be something special. And next year, with Lexus of Mexico starting up operations down here, there’s going to be even more interest. It’s going to be an honor to represent them in Mexico. The Mexican market is really going to like Lexus.”

And next year will feature more thing for Rolex Series competitors to worry about – an even more experienced Rojas, who can now be called a champion.