Joao Barbosa earned his first win of the season and eighth of his career in the series in Saturday’s GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle.

Barbosa was co-driving the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP with Darren Law.

Barbosa survived a restart with 10 minutes left in the two-hour race and pressure from David Donohue to seal a 1-2 sweep by Action Express Racing Corvette DPs.

“Winning at Detroit with the Corvette – it can’t be better than this,” Barbosa said. “Being part of the Action Express crew, I have no words.”

“You know what? If I bit my nails I would have no nails left,” Law, who started, said about being a spectator at the end of the race. “I was going crazy, but Joao did a stellar job. I have to thank all the crew and Action Express and also to win this in Detroit in front of Chevy’s headquarters, this is unbelievable. I’m just super happy.”

Donohue was second with co-driver Terry Borcheller in the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP, just .440 seconds behind at the finish. Scott Pruett, who led for two of the 72 laps in the first half of the race, finished third in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley co-driven by Memo Rojas.

Jordan Taylor – co-driving the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R with Paul Edwards –prevailed in the Grand Touring (GT) class, taking command after pole-starter Guy Cosmo was black-flagged for jumping a restart near the midway point in the No. 03 Tequila Patron Ferrari 458.

“How cool is it do be driving that Chevrolet Camaro right in Detroit in the hometown of Chevrolet and General Motors?” Edwards said. “You can actual see the world headquarters right from the race track. It’s an awesome win.”

Jonathan Bomarito finished second with Sylvain Tremblay in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/ModSpace/Castrol Mazda RX-8 with Robin Liddell third alongside co-driver John Edwards in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R.

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