Muscle Milk Team CytoSport will start the 2010 Petit Le Mans second in class - the green flag falling on the final race of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón season. After being fastest in class in the morning practice session, Muscle Milk Team CytoSport - competing in the LMP2 category this weekend per ACO rules - headed in to the last qualifying session of the season with the goal of claiming a second pole position this year.Klaus Graf, who is partnered with Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr this weekend, immediately set the pace in the LMP2 class and was sitting first in class and fifth overall halfway through the session thanks to a lap of one minute, 10.562 seconds.Comfortable with their lap time, the Muscle Milk squad waited to see what their class competitors would do. A few minutes later, when the Dyson Racing car took over the provisional LMP2 pole with a lap time of one minute, 10.417 seconds, the team decided to head back out for another shot at starting first in class.While Graf was able to improve his time to one minute, 10.548 seconds, he didn't have enough to get ahead of the Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda and had to settle for a second place on the LMP2 grid and a sixth place starting position overall.
With their performance in qualifying, Muscle Milk Team CytoSport will be starting ahead of their championship rivals Highcroft Racing who qualified third. The Greg Pickett-owned team sits second in the LMP Championship, 16 points behind the HPD-backed Highcroft team heading into tomorrow's final round of the season. In order for the team to win the title it has to complete at least 70% of the race distance with Highcroft failing to finish that same distance.Teams will get one last chance to make final preparations before the 10-hour/1000-mile event - whichever comes first - during Saturday's morning warm-up at 9:15 a.m. ET.The Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda2 goes green at 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 2, 2010 and will be broadcast live on SPEED starting at 11:00 a.m. ET.
What they had to say:Klaus Graf, driver #6 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder"Obviously with our performance in practice this morning we thought we had a shot at the pole position but I think the track changed a little bit and lost some grip, so I guess in the end we can be happy with our second place starting position in class. I tried really hard and our times were consistent but I just couldn't go any faster."I think we have a really good race car thanks to the long practice runs we were able to do in our race preparation. At the start we'll have to be careful. The diesel cars don't get the tires up to temperature as quickly so that will mix it up a little and make things interesting."
Geoffrey Carter, Team Manager, #6 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder"Qualifying second for us today is OK. I'm very proud of Klaus and the entire Muscle Milk Team CytoSport. The guys have prepared the car perfectly as usual as they've done all year. Coming down to a 10-hour race it isn't where you start but where you finish. Although we would have liked to qualify on the pole, we decided that we have nothing to lose tomorrow. In the past I've really had to preach to the guys to be very patient and conservative but coming to Atlanta we're interested in winning the last race so we'll be going for it and starting second doesn't hold us back."
