The CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing team sweptthe front row during qualifying for the Food City 250 at PhoenixInternational Raceway. The team's No. 01 Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype tookits third Rolex Sports Car Series pole of the season in as many races.
Although all 19 Daytona Prototypes qualified together in a 15-minutesession, the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing team decided to let Luis Diaz takethe team's No. 02 Lexus Riley out first, while his teammate Max Papis waitedin the pits in the No. 01 Lexus. Diaz moved into the top position with his56.452-second (96.294 mph) lap. However, his time was bested by his teammatewhen Papis took to the track midway through the session, turning a56.005-second (97.063 mph) lap on the 1.51-mile road course, topping DavidDonohue's Daytona Prototype track record by 1.083 seconds.
For the second-straight race, Lexus-powered Daytona Prototypes scored thetop-three positions on the starting grid. Oswaldo Negri Jr. put the MichaelShank Racing No. 6 Lexus Doran in the third position with a 57.038-second(95.305 mph) lap. Wayne Taylor took the fourth position with his57.065-second (95.260 mph) lap in the SunTrust Racing No. 10 Pontiac Riley.
Three Daytona Prototype teams will start at the rear of the grid due torules violations during qualifying. The Red Bull Brumos Racing No. 58Porsche Fabcar and Cegwa Sport No. 3 Lexus Fabcar will start from the backof the grid because the teams downloaded data from the race cars prior topost-qualifying technical inspection. The G&W Motorsports No. 80 BMW Picchiowill start from the rear of the grid because the team failed to report itsqualifying driver to officials in advance. Additionally, the CITGOHoward-Boss Motorsports No. 2 Pontiac Crawford team will be fined $1,000 forattempting to download data from the car prior to post-qualifying technicalinspection.
Bill Auberlen posted the quickest time in the GT class during qualifying forSaturday night's race, recording a 1:01.639 (88.191 mph) lap in thePrototype Technology Group No. 21 BMW M3. Gunnar Jeannette posted thesecond-fastest time in the GT class, turning a 1:01.686 (88.124 mph) lap inthe Gunnar Racing No. 45 Porsche GT3 RS he is sharing with NASCAR NEXTEL Cupdriver Kyle Petty this weekend.
Craig Stanton was fastest among the SGS-class competitors in the AASCOMotorsports No. 16 Porsche. His 1:03.555 (85.532 mph) lap broke the class'track record set by Devon Powell last year by 1.706 seconds. Greg Wilkinswas second in the class during qualifying with his 1:04.384 (84.431 mph) lapin the Doncaster Racing No. 71 Porsche.
Both Auberlen and Stantion received the Acxiom Grand Touring ChallengeFastest Qualifier awards for leading the GT and SGS classes.
The Food City 250 will get underway at Phoenix International Raceway at 6p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) on Saturday night. Tickets for the race areavailable at PIR's ticket office or online at www.phoenixraceway.com. TheFood City 250 will be broadcast LIVE on SPEED Channel.
For additional information on the Rolex Sports Car Series, as well as ZippoLive Timing & Scoring free of charge, visit www.grandamerican.com.
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Food City 250 Qualifying Quotes
Max Papis, driver of the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing No. 01 Lexus RileyPolesitter of the Food City 250
ON THE TEAM WINNING THE POLE FOR THE THIRD STRAIGHT RACE"Qualifying is a big "hats off" to all of my guys. Winning the pole for thethird-straight time is a great reward for all of their hard work. We've beenworking really hard. All of the guys on the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing withFelix Sabates team make a great family. Tomorrow is going to be really,really physical, and you need to be very focused. We are going to be passingcars right and left. The most important thing to do is to be patient andbring the car home. That will lead to a good result."
Bill Auberlen, driver of the Prototype Technology Group No. 21 BMW M3Acxiom Grand Touring Challenge GT Class Fast Qualifer
ON THE CAR"The M3 has been very good every session, and I am extremely happy withwhere we are now. The team made progress every time we were on the track. Itwas back and forth during qualifying for a while, but we got it. The teamwill work hard tonight to ensure the car is perfect."
Craig Stanton, driver of the AASCO Motorsports No. 16 Porsche GT3 CupAcxiom Grand Touring Challenge SGS Fast Qualifier
ON POSTING THE FASTEST SGS CLASS TIME IN QUALIFYING"The team's pulling together really well this weekend. We feel like we needto vindicate ourselves a little bit here. We had a really good test lastweek where we approached it like a race weekend. We got a very good handleon the No. 16 Porsche. We figure we saved a day here at Phoenix with thattest. It really paid off. We were first out to qualify. It took about half alap to get the tire temps up. So I wanted to get a good run for the team.That was a good lap. I'm pretty pleased with that lap."
Luis Diaz, driver of the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing No. 02 Lexus RileyOutside polesitter for the Food City 250
ON STARTING ON THE FRONT ROW"It has really been a great beginning (of the season) for me. All of thehard work from our guys make our jobs a lot easier. After what happened inHomestead, everyone supported me and helped me to get my confidence back. Idon't think anyone here has ever had experience with so many cars on thetrack at the same time. This race is going to be very exciting."
Oswaldo Negri Jr., driver of the Michael Shank Racing No. 6 Lexus DoranQualified third for the Food City 250
ON QUALIFYING"This is a fantastic result for us and really shows how strong this team iseven though we don't have the level of financing as some of the other teams.We haven't been able to test since the last race, but we thought throughwhat we were going to do for qualifying and waited after the session startedto get he best track temp and some clear space before going out. Burt's(Frisselle) dad was watching from the spotter stand, and was on the radio tome to make sure I was able to get a clear lap, so it was a real team efforttoday."
ON THE RACE"Tomorrow is going to be a big challenge, every corner will be a lotterywith all the traffic, and I am certainly hoping to win the lottery!"
Wayne Taylor, driver of the SunTrust Racing No. 10 Pontiac RileyQualified fourth for the Food City 250
ON HIS QUALIFYING TIME
"I'm a bit disappointed not to start from the front row, because the car hasbeen so good all weekend. The track felt pretty slippery, but we decided notto try and chase the setup in the heat of the afternoon sessions because ofthe late day race start. Max and I are confident we have a good setup forthe race, even though we've compromised a bit for qualifying."
Elliot Forbes-Robinson, driver of the Howard-Boss Motorsports No. 4 PontiacCrawfordQualified sixth for the Food City 250
ON HIS QUALIFYING TIME"That's not as good as we would have liked, but it's much better than wepracticed. We really changed a lot of things - springs, ride height, etc. -between practice and qualifying and didn't get that many laps of practiceanyway. This will be a good car for the race."
Forest Barber, driver of the Kodak Bell Motorsports No. 54 Pontiac DoranQualified 12th for the Food City 250
ON THE CAR"We made a lot of progress with the Kodak EasyShare car today. Myconfidence in it is much greater than it was yesterday, because I improvedmy lap times about three seconds today. That's a lot to pick up. Theimprovements came in two areas: getting the car to have more front grip, andtalking with Terry (Borcheller) and Brian Sakata (data acquisition andcoach) helped me improve my lines. I think the car will be very good forthe race. Terry was running in the top three in practice. I'll start therace tomorrow and my goal is to try to stay out of trouble and give him agood car for the second half of the race. We need to stay out of trouble andsee if we can finish in a good spot."
Fredy Lienhard Sr., driver of the Doran-Lista Racing No. 27 Lexus DoranQualified 14th for the Food City 250
ON QUALIFYING"I was working hard but only one lap counts in qualifying! The car still hasa bit of understeer in the banking, but I was able to drive normally. Forme it's important to have good, consistent laps, so for me it was OK. I'mnot far off from the fastest drivers. If I could pick up a half-second, I'dbe with the next group, but I need to practice more to be able to do that.I haven't driven since the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
ON THE TRACK"It's a nice little track. Our goal tomorrow will be to stay out of troubleand have no problems to the finish. That's my style, and that's ourstrategy."
Michael Shank, team owner of Michael Shank Racing No. 6 Lexus DoranQualified third for the Food City 250
ON QUALIFYING"This is mega for us. We of course need to keep working to see what we cando to get ourselves on the pole, but to be third here is really fantasticfor us and for Lexus. It was a good strategy the team came up with to holdOswaldo in the pits until we were able to find a clear lap, and it paid offfor us. The traffic tomorrow is going to affect everyone in the field, butit is certainly an advantage to be starting so close to the front."
Justin Marks, driver of the Prototype Technology Group No. 22 BMW M3Qualified second in the GT class
ON THE TRACK"The track has changed a lot, but we have tried to focus on changes thatwill help us in the race. I think the car was as good as it could have beenfor qualifying. The times are all very close, but I think we may still beable to find a little bit more speed for the race."
Joe Policastro, driver of the Orbit Racing No. 44 Porsche GT3 RSQualified ninth in the GT class
ON QUALIFYING"Mike gave me some pointers about how I could knock a couple of seconds off[the lap times] and they really worked. I ran into some traffic coming ontothe track, but I had a couple of clear laps when I could get my foot intoit. When we get out for the race, it's going to be tight initially, so we'regoing to have to be very careful at the start. It's going to require somereal good strategy to play all our strong points."
ON THE TRANSITION FROM NIGHT TO DAY"The transition period is not the difficult one; the difficult one is whenthe sun is going down," he explained. "When I get in, the track and the airwill be a little cooler, so I'm thrilled to not be driving when it'sdaylight. But it's a very physical track, much like go-karting. It's goingto take a lot of upper-body movement. That will be the biggest challenge ofthe race."
Rodger Hawley, owner of the Orbit Racing No. 44 Porsche GT3 RSQualified ninth in the GT class
ON GRAND AMERICAN'S EFFORTS FOR EQUALITY
"It's a driver's series, which is pretty cool. Instead of battling withdifferent tires and different engine specifications, it's a bunch of driversout racing cars," he noted. "I think the Porsche has some inherentadvantages, but the BMW has a couple of really quick drivers, so we haveparity. The BMW drivers have to overcome what we have technically, and wehave to overcome a little what [BMW driver] Bill Auberlen can do."
Tom Milner, owner of the Prototype Technology GroupQualified first and second in the GT class
ON QUALIFYING"We are happy to be on the pole, but tomorrow will be a tough race giventhat the top-four qualifier are within four-tenths of a second."
