PAGENAUD GRABS SEVENTH ON THE GRID
de Ferran Motorsports will start from the fourth row in today's American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Mosport after Frenchman Simon Pagenaud qualified seventh fastest yesterday.
In the team's first visit to the former home of the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Pagenaud came within .003 of a second from clinching a third row starting position aboard the team's Panasonic-sponsored Acura ARX01-b.
Today's two hour, 45 minutes race will kick off at 3.05pm local time. This weekend's eighth round of the American Le Mans Series will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel in the US and Motors TV in Europe.
GIL DE FERRAN"We have found it challenging to find the right balance in the car again this weekend but the boys made a large number of changes prior to qualifying and Simon indicated that the car was the best it had been all weekend. It does appear we are moving in the right direction.
"Mosport is certainly a very high speed track that is extremely tough and also quite bumpy. It certainly is a very challenging ride around here."
SIMON PAGENAUD"We made big improvements prior to qualifying and I am really happy with the way the team reacted - the boys did a great job.
"I got the best out of the car I could in qualifying but we still need to find some time. There is obviously still a bit of speed to be found but we will analyze this overnight and see if we can find some more speed for the race.
"I am very happy with the way the car feels so far and I am looking forward to the race. Mosport is very challenging with lots of blind corners and not a lot of margain for error, it is certainly a very manly track and great fun to drive on.
"We will have to be clever in the race tomorrow because we don't have the outright speed at the moment. We will have to ensure our strategy works well."
QUALIFYING
Pos. Car # Class Drivers Car Result 1 2 LMP1 Luhr/Werner Audi R10 1 min 04.094 secs 2 1 LMP1 Capello/Pirro Audi R10 1:04.188 3 7 LMP2 Dumas/Bernhard Porsche RS Spyder 1:04.318 4 9 LMP2 Brabham/Sharp Acura ARX-01B 1:04.603 5 26 LMP2 Rossiter/Montagny Acura ARX-01B 1:04.619 6 15 LMP2 Fernandez/Diaz Acura ARX-01B 1:05.153 7 66 LMP2 de Ferran/Pagenaud Acura ARX-01B 1:05.156 8 6 LMP2 Long/Maassen Porsche RS Spyder 1:05.166 9 20 LMP2 Franchitti/Leitzinger Porsche RS Spyder 1:05.170 10 16 LMP2 Smith/Dyson Porsche RS Spyder 1:05.429
TIMETABLE:Sunday, 24 August10:05 am - 10:30 am: Warm Up - All Classes3:05 pm - 5:50 pm: Race - 2 Hours 45 Minutes
TELEVISION:Sunday, 24 August - LiveUSA: SPEED TV, 3:00pm - 6:00pm (EDT)
Sunday, 24 August - LiveEUROPE: Motors TV, 9:00pm - 12:05am (CET)UK: Motors TV, 8.00pm - 11.00pm (BST)
