Marcos Gomes scored his second consecutive pole position in North American Formula Renault 2000 competition today with a storming 1:51.454-second lap of the Glen for Saturday’s race. The session was extremely competitive, with five different drivers holding on to the top spot during the session before Gomes set his best time in the closing moments.
Mt Tremblant-round winner and championship points leader Mark Wilkins will start alongside Gomes for the standing start, with Renato Jader David and Phoenix round winner Juan Martin Ponte taking third and fourth on the grid, respectively. Antoine Bessette and series newcomer Phillippe Gelinas will make an all French-Canadian row three, with Ricardo Imery and former Atlantics standout Stephan Roy comprising row four. Gelles Racing’s Michael Yager continued his streak of top-ten qualifying runs with a ninth position on the grid, and will start next to Bob Siska. The field was thrown a curve when a brief rain shower drenched the 3.4-mile course just before the field was set to take to the track, forcing everyone to change to Michelin rain tires. The rain quickly gave way to a clearing sky and a breeze that both helped to dry the track by the middle stages of the session. The changing conditions didn’t phase Gomes, though, as he waited patiently before setting off to take the top spot on the speed chart.“My car was really good, and the track was pretty much dry by the end, so it didn’t bother me,” Gomes said. “The car is excellent-my engineer Christian has done a fantastic job, and I am really confident about the race as I think I have a really good car, better than at Tremblant, so hopefully the result can be better, too!”The race is scheduled to get underway at 11:45 am on Saturday.
North America Formula Renault 2000 Watkins Glen 3.4 Miles June 18, 2004
Friday Qualifying Round 3
Pos - Name - Best Time - Hometown - Country - Sponsor - Team
1/ Marcos Gomes/ 1:51.454 / San Paulo BZL / ITUPETRO /GTI Team ROSHFRANS 2/ Mark Wilkins/ 1:51.857 /Toronto, Ont CAN / Trizec Canada /Aim Autosport 3/ Renato Jader David/ 1:52.467/ San Paulo BZL/ Priests for Life /Gelles Racing 4/ Juan Martin Ponte/ 1:52.503 / Concordia ARG / IPS/Grapeking /EuroInternational SRL 5/ Antoine Bessette/ 1:53.217 / St. Bruon, Quebec/ CAN Elan Intl/Gouin LeBlanc / Aim Autosport 6/ Philippe Gelinas (R)/ 1:53.383 /Grand-Mere, Quebec / CAN / Gelles Racing 7/Ricardo Imery/ 1:53.566/ Caracas VZL Cavenas / EuroInternational Inc 8/Stephan Roy (R)/ 1:54.453 /Trois Riveres, Quebec CAN / Play Station 2/ Gelles Racing 9/ Michael Yager (R/) 1:55.201 / Effingham, IL USA / Mid-America Gelles Racing 10/ Robert Siska/ 1:56.773 /San Francisco, CA USA / RJS Motorsports / RJS Motorsports 11/ Patricio Jourdain/ (R) 1:56.825 /Mexico City MEX / GTI Team ROSHFRANS 12/Adam Dodds (R)/ 2:07.430 / Washington, DC USA / TBA Gelles Racing
The Formula Renault V6 Championship is the top rung on the North American Formula Renault Championship ladder, which also includes the North American Formula Renault 1600 Championship and the North American Formula Renault 2000 Championship. The Formula Renault V6 is expected to make its North American competition debut in the latter stages of the2004 North American Formula Renault 2000 season.Points standings after two roundsMark Wilkins 62Gustavo Sondermann 47Renato Jader David 45Juan Martin Ponte 45Ricardo Imery 44Marcos Gomes 44Antoine Bessette 38Nick Bussell 32Michael Yager 26Aurelio Lopez 24
