Pagenaud's pole at this high speed track comes as a bit of a surprise this year, however, due to the HPD's relatively low top speed and normally aspirated power plant. With the track being nearly a mile above sea level, turbo cars were thought to have an advantage, but Highcroft's approach of a "no-downforce" setup seems to have negated the package's shortcomings. It will be interesting to see where Highcroft ends up at the end of lap 1 come raceday. Look for Intersport Racing's Jon Field and Drayson Racing's Johnny Cocker to make the most of their horsepower advantages once the green flag drops. (for more on the huge power differential in LMP, check out John Dagy's Saturday notebook)
Photos: americanlemans.com
In the ever-exciting GT category, the #62 Risi Ferrari F430 GT of Gimmi Bruni and Jaime Melo led a Ferrari 1-2-3 sweep of qualifying. Johannes van Overbeek gave Extreme Speed Motorsports their best qualifying effort of the year by nabbing second position, only a tenth off of Bruni's pole time. Championship leaders Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long managed fourth for Flying Lizard Motorsports.
The Ferrari's have had the edge all season long in qualifying, but have lacked the proper strategy to make the most of their speed in the races. Flying Lizard looks to win their third straight GT race, but face strong opposition from not only Ferrari, but Rahal Letterman BMW and Corvette Racing. The latter will be looking for a strong result after a dominating Le Mans run in June came to a disappointing end after contact with Anthony Davidson's Peugeot.
Photo: americanlemans.com
Photos: americanlemans.com
The Ferrari's have had the edge all season long in qualifying, but have lacked the proper strategy to make the most of their speed in the races. Flying Lizard looks to win their third straight GT race, but face strong opposition from not only Ferrari, but Rahal Letterman BMW and Corvette Racing. The latter will be looking for a strong result after a dominating Le Mans run in June came to a disappointing end after contact with Anthony Davidson's Peugeot.
In LMPC, Gunnar Jeanette grabbed Green Earth Team Gunnar's second pole position of the season with a time of 1:42.592
Photo: John Dagys
In GTC, former Porsche Supercup champion, Jeroen Bleekemolen earned Black Swan Racing's second consecutive pole with a class record time of 1:54.641, narrowly beating out Bryce Miller in Orbit Racing's 911 Cup car. Positions one through eight were separated by less than a second, come race day this will be one of the most hotly contested classes.
Photo: John Dagys
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