Kenny Wilden captured the pole position for the Grand-Am Cup Series Daytona 250 on Thursday with his 2:06.106 lap at 101.62 mph in the Doncaster Racing No. 91 Porsche 996. Wilden bested the Grand Sport track record previously held by Brett Shanaman by more than a second with his qualifying lap.
"The car was great. We didn't change the car at all. The track was a littleslippery than it was earlier today. The car still worked very well," saidWilden. "I think the chances (of winning the race) are really good. They'vewon the championship the last few years, so Doncaster knows how to build acar. It's just a question of we haven't tested this car. This is the firstday it's been on the track. As long as the bugs have been worked out of it,which I'm sure Porsche has already done, it should be good."
Devon Powell took the outside pole position for the Daytona 250 with his2:06.558 lap at 101.266 mph in the Powell Motorsports No. 11 Firebird, whileMark Plummer took the third position in the BGB Motorsports No. 36 Porsche996 with a 2:06.684 lap at 101.165 mph.
Bob Beede, who captured the 2003 Grand-Am Cup Sport Touring II classchampionship, made his debut in the Sport Touring class in style by postingthe fastest qualifying time in the class. Beede clocked a 2:12.692 lap at96.585 mph in the No. 27 Acura RSX-S of Bill Fenton Motorsports.
"We came down here for testing the first part of January, and we werestruggling. We couldn't get used to the cars. My co-driver Eric Curran andI, we experienced a lot in testing. He really worked with Steve, the crewchief, to get that car set-up. The work of those two guys did really paidoff. I was here in January and couldn't drive the car. It was two-seconds alap slower, and I couldn't get comfortable in it. Right from the get-gotoday we've been running really strong. We're just loving the car," saidBeede.
Ian James turned the second-fastest time in the Sport Touring class,recording a 2:13.386 lap at 96.082 mph in the Team Lexus No. 2 Lexus IS300.John Schmitt, who took the ST I driver championship last season, posted thethird fast time with his 2:13.897 lap at 95.715 mph in Bill FentonMotorsports' No. 29 Acura.
The Grand-Am Cup Series Daytona 250 will get underway on Friday at 2:30 p.m.Tickets are currently on sale for the event, as well as the entire Rolex 24At Daytona weekend, and can be purchased online atdaytonainternationalspeedway.com.
