Farnbacher Loles Racing - Laguna Seca GT front row
Farnbacher Loles Racing will start from the GT class front row in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.
Pierre Kaffer of Salenstein, Switzerland, qualified the No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in one minute 27.215 seconds on the 2.240-mile road course at an average speed of 92.379 mph. He will drive the first stint of the two-hour 45-minute race on Saturday, followed by Dirk Werner of Kissenbrück, Germany.
"It was a great result for us to qualify on the first row. It is a good position to start the race. The team did a very good job with the car – I'm sure we will have a fast car over the distance, not only for one lap," Kaffer said. "My qualifying lap was a good lap, but not a perfect lap because I was stuck a bit in traffic. But anyway, it was a good result."
Eric Lux of Jacksonville, Fla., put the team's No. 86 Porsche 11th on the GT grid (1:29.075, 90.450 mph) after catching some air on his flyer lap. He will start the race, then hand off to Leh Keen of Charleston, S.C.
"We struggled to set up the car during practice because there were so many cautions with people going off [the track]. Pontiac and Mazda are so strong here, it's hard to bring much to the table," Lux said. "We had a good start, then I made a mistake going into the Corkscrew. I caught quite a bit of air and when I landed, I broke the subframe and some other parts, so it made qualifying difficult. But we're still 11th and we think the race will be really good for us."
Dave Lacey of Toronto qualified the No. 88 Porsche 13th in class (1:29.544, 89.976 mph). He will share driving duty on Saturday with Steve Johnson of Bristol, Va.
"We made some great progress today – the guys improved the car more than three seconds from the first practice session to qualifying," Lacey said. "Steve and I worked well together, providing feedback to [crew chief] Scott Lopez and [race engineer] Lars Giersing. They made changes that really enhanced the car. We're 13th, but it was a good effort and a good lap. And I think it's a great omen that my hotel room number is 881 ... car 88 in first place!"
