SunTrust Racing co-driversWayne Taylor and Max Angelelli weren't planning on participating in practiceor qualifying for Sunday's 6 Heures du Circuit Mont-Tremblant (SPEEDChannel, 11 a.m. ET).
The teammates originally planned to leave practice and qualifying toco-driver Emanuel Collard while Taylor and Angelelli attended the BarMitzvah of Taylor's youngest son, Jordan, in Orlando. However, with the teampositioned just three points out of the championship lead, Taylor andAngelelli made the decision to come to Canada in time for practice. The movepaid immediate dividends, as Angelelli turned in a best lap of 106.815 mph(1:29.313) in the SunTrust Racing No. 10 Pontiac Riley to lead a field of 39cars in the opening day of Rolex Sports Car Series practice in Quebec. Itwas the third consecutive race in which the SunTrust machine led Fridaypractice.
"The traffic was really difficult," Angelelli said. "I never had a clear lapit seemed. I've been told Mont-Tremblant gets faster and faster the more yourun, so we'll need to go quicker tomorrow. I'm pretty happy with the car fornow, though. The big question in my mind for tomorrow is about the weather."
Second quickest on the day was the car that has started each of the firstthree Rolex Sports Car Series races in 2004 on the pole, the Chip GanassiRacing No. 01 Lexus Riley of Scott Pruett and Max Papis at 106.188 mph(1:29.841) with Papis behind the wheel. However, the day did not go withoutincident for the Ganassi squad, as Papis slid off-course near the end of theday's first Daytona Prototype practice session and the rough ride across thegrass knocked the nose off the Lexus Riley.
"It's unfortunate that I made my guys work extra, I didn't want that," saidPapis following the morning incident. "I went into Turn 1 and I put twowheels on the curb. The curb sucked me out. I think the wet grass (from asteady rain on Thursday afternoon) made the splitter sink into the grass,and basically, it broke off the nose. It's an unwanted situation, but myCompUSA guys are working hard to get the car back on track this afternoon.We are still on the same schedule as before."
Indeed, while the incident created more work for the CompUSA Chip Ganassiteam, it did not have a negative effect on the team's performance, as theteam also posted the second-quickest time in the afternoon session. However,none of the top-five teams from the morning practice were able to improvetheir times in the afternoon, owing to considerably warmer temperatures.
The day's third-quickest time was turned in by Oswaldo Negri in the MichaelShank Racing No. 6 Lexus Doran 105.648 mph (1:30.300). The Shank pairing ofNegri and Burt Frisselle got their weekend off to a solid start as they lookto build upon finishes of third in Round 2 at Homestead and sixth in Round 3at Phoenix.
"We will be quicker tomorrow," team owner Michael Shank said. "We haven'tput it all out there yet, so we look to be strong in qualifying tomorrow.Burt and Oswaldo are really happy with the car, though, so we feel confidentabout the race."
The Doran Lista Racing No. 27 Lexus Doran of Didier Theys and Jan Magnussenwas fourth quick at 104.435 mph (1:31.349) with Magnussen at the wheel. Thedefending race champion Red Bull Brumos Racing No. 58 Porsche Fabcar sharedby David Donohue, Darren Law and Sascha Maassen filled out the top five at103.928 mph (1:31.794) with Law driving.
BMW LEADS GT PRACTICE
Winners of the past two races at Homestead and Phoenix, Boris Said and BillAuberlen got off to a good start in their quest to score a "hat trick" inCanada, as their Prototype Technology Group No. 21 BMW M3 turned thequickest lap in the GT category at 99.129 mph (1:36.238) with Auberlen atthe controls.
Second quickest in GT was Justin Marks in the Prototype Technology Group No.22 BMW M3 at 98.092 mph (1:37.256), followed by The Racer's Group No. 67Porsche GT3 RS driven by Kevin Buckler at 97.544 mph (1:37.802). Filling outthe top five were Ian James in The Racer's Group No. 66 Porsche GT3 RS at97.329 mph (1:38.018) and the Orbit Racing No. 44 Porsche GT3 RS driven bypoints leader Mike Fitzgerald at 97.011 mph (1:38.339).
Already under pressure from Said and Auberlen for the GT points lead, theNo. 44 team suffered a setback in the morning practice session when thePorsche's left rear upright broke at the start/finish line with JayPolicastro at the wheel. The car swapped ends and came to a stop on thegrass at the pit exit, but the team avoided contact with the barrier.
"It's a good thing it happened there rather than the next corner,"Policastro said. "But I saved it. That's never happened to me on thestraight before. It's happened before when I was turning, when it was loadbearing, so I don't know why it broke. The bolt on the lower control armjust snapped."
NOTEBOOKIn Rolex Series Super Grand Sport (SGS), American Andy Lally posted thequickest lap in Friday practice at 93.923 mph (1:41.573) in the TPC RacingPorsche No. 38 GT3 Cup. Lally shares the ride with Marc Bunting, and thepair currently stands in a third-place tie in SGS points, trailing leadersMichael Levitas and Randy Pobst in the TPC Racing No. 36 Porsche GT3 Cup,who had the third-best lap in practice. James Sofronas piloted his AnchorRacing No. 92 BMW M3 to a best lap of 88.526 mph (1:47.765) to lead practicein the Grand Sport (GS) division of Grand-Am Cup Series. The PowellMotorsport No. 11 Cadillac CTS-V driven by Devon Powell was second-quick at88.015 mph (1:48.391). Sylvain Tremblay led the Grand-Am Cup Sport Touring(ST) class in practice at 85.340 mph (1:51.788) in the SpeedSource No. 70Mazda RX-8.
What They're Saying
Michael Shank, team owner of the Michael Shank Racing No. 6 Lexus Doran
"We will be quicker tomorrow. We haven't put it all out there, yet, so welook to be strong in qualifying tomorrow. Burt and Oswaldo are really happywith the car, though, so we feel confident about the race. The testing wedid at Mid Ohio and the Glen is paying off, and we keep finding new ways todevelop the car so we can keep improving the pace each time we go out. Ourpackage with the Lexus-powered Doran is well suited to this track, so we arelooking for a good result this weekend."
Jan Magnussen, driver of the Doran-Lista Racing No. 27 Lexus Doran
"So far we're in good shape. I believe we're as strong as anybody else here.This is my first time at this track but already it has made my list of mytop three tracks. It's a nice change from your typical Formula 1 circuit.Laguna Seca is first, Bathurst is second and now Mont-Tremblant is third.
"We changed the springs today and we made some changes to thedampers(brakes); we made some pretty big changes, but I think we've gone inthe right direction every time with our changes. It's been awhile since I'veenjoyed myself so much."
Didier Theys, driver of the Doran-Lista Racing No. 27 Lexus Doran
"I worked on the chassis yesterday, and Jan (Magnussen) worked on it today.I think we have a good race car."
Forest Barber, driver of the Kodak Bell Motorsports No. 54 Pontiac Doran
"We love the track, and the Kodak car is coming together for us. We havesome more work to do tomorrow, in the area of aerodynamics. We haven't hadany mechanical issues at all, knock on wood. So far, so good."
Jay Policastro, driver of the Orbit Racing No. 44 Porsche GT3 RS
"It's a beautiful facility. The racing surface is nice and wide, extremelysmooth - probably one of the smoothest we run on. The coolest part of thetrack is the turn one complex. It's a big sweeping right-hander that's acomplex of three corners, going in fifth gear, pretty much top speed, andthen coming down to a third-gear corner that's a real slow chicane. So itcombines all the disciplines of speed - sweeping turns, momentum andbraking. It's really quite spectacular."
