No. 07 Banner Racing / Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R drivers Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins dominated the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve GT competition Saturday afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park, racing to the checkered flag 30.591 seconds ahead of the field in the two-and-a-half hour Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant.

The pair started from the pole and almost never looked back, leading 94 of the race's 95 laps.  Collins, running the team's first stint, had already stretched the lead to 4.616 seconds over the No. 85 Porsche GT3 co-driver Craig Stanton by Lap 15.  Collins maintained a several-second lead behind the wheel before passing the No. 07 Pontiac GXP.R to Edwards on a Lap 28 pit stop.

As the GT field cycled through the first pit stops of the afternoon, Edwards found himself in the lead on Lap 31 nearly ten seconds ahead of teammate Leighton Reese in the No. 06 Banner Racing  /Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R.  Ten laps later, that lead had stretched to 23.77 seconds.

The closest any driver got to Edwards from there was during the race's only full course caution period, when Dominic Cicero slammed the No. 57 Corvette into the Turn 1 tire wall on.  Edwards was the first in-and-out of the pits as the field bunched up under the caution.

The disappearing lead didn't seem to rattle Edwards.  One lap after racing resumed, Edwards ripped off the race's fastest lap in a time of 1:29.917, only four tenths of a second off of the car's pole speed.  The lead continued to grow until the final margin of victory.

"It seemed like an easy one, but it wasn't," Edwards said.  "We had to find the right balance. We seemed to run the same times as we did in practice, and I was surprised the others were a second or more off our pace.  I guess our car was just working that well around here, and nothing went wrong.  No misfire; everything went well for once. I guess the performance kind of speaks for itself."

The win was the first of the season for Edwards and Collins, who have utilized a number of strong finishes to stay in the championship hunt.  The Banner Racing duo now trails points leader Dirk Werner by just six points with only two races remaining in the GT season.

Leighton Reese and Tim Lewis Jr. were having some trouble with the 96-degree heat as the cool suit in their No. 06 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R was not working.  Lewis managed to maintain his focus and make a last turn, last lap pass on the No. 70 to take fourth on the day.

"The car was loose, it had some over and some under steer," Lewis said.  "It was hot, the cool suit was not working and it was a chore to maintain concentration.  I was able to keep the pressure on the 70 and pass him in the last turn coming to the checker.  The guys in the pits did a great job.  I think they made up three positions for Leighton and two for me when we came in, just a great job by the Banner crew today.

The fourth place finish for the No. 06 was a strong testament to the team, which finished second a week ago and began the Barber race from the front row.