Despite a lap record, Audi could only achieve 5th overall
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Acura
De FERRAN TAKES AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES POLE FRIDAY IN PANASONIC ELS SURROUND ACURA ARX-01b AT MID-OHIO
Second Straight Overall Pole For Acura And Brabham Makes It An Acura Front Row
LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Gil de Ferran continued Acura's hot streak Friday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course by setting an overall track record in qualifying for Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge.
The former Indy 500 winner and two-time CART champion drove his new No. 66 de Ferran Motorsports Panasonic ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b to a sizzling lap of one minute, 7.969 seconds (119.60 miles per hour ), besting Timo Bernhard's overall mark of 1:08.510 (118.651 m.p.h.) from last year. De Ferran, who retired as a driver in 2003, returned to the cockpit in May at Salt Lake City, Utah with an all-new crew and operation. He teamed with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud to place third overall in the team's initial contest.
On Friday at Mid-Ohio, the personable Brazilian came from sixth in the early portions of qualifying to vault to the pole position with just four minutes remaining in the 20-minute qualifying session. Lime Rock race and pole winner David Brabham had leaped to the top of the charts with a 1:08.193 clocking halfway through the session.
A host of LMP1 and LMP2 drivers took shots at the two Acura drivers' times but failed to crack the front row. De Ferran and Brabham, in the No. 9 Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b prototype, scored Acura's second consecutive front row after the No. 9 and No. 66 machines started in reverse order in Lime Rock qualifying.
The top six positions in Friday's qualifying bettered Bernhard's old qualifying mark.
Bernhard took the No. 7 Penske Porsche to third on the grid at 119.12 m.p.h., followed by Franck Montagny in the No. 26 Andretti Green XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b at 118.98, Marco Werner in the No. 2 Champion Audi at 118.92 and Luis Diaz in the No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b at 118.66.
The pole for de Ferran marked his third straight on the famed 2.25-mile, 13-turn circuit, dating to 2000 and 2001, when he scored poles for team Penske in the CART open-wheel series.
ACURA QUOTES:
GIL DE FERRAN (#66 Panasonic ELS Sound Acura ARX-01b):
"This pole is just fantastic. We are such a young team and we are learning the ropes of the American Le Mans Series. This is only our third race and we have been able to qualify on the front row at each of them. But now to win the pole is great for our Panasonic ELS team and for Acura. I have a great history with HPD [Honda Performance Development] and it is exciting to give them a pole today. To win the overall pole here is very emotional for me. The last time I raced here was back in 2001 with CART and I was able to win the pole then. Now, for an old guy like me to return and capture the overall pole position is very special. I have a great teammate in Simon [Pagenaud] and I believe we have a tremendous chance to win the race on Saturday. The Highcroft team did a superb job last week to win overall at Lime Rock. I know they will be tough just like the other Acuras, the Porsches and the Audis."
DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b):
"I am really happy. Of course, after sitting on the pole at the Northeast Grand Prix last weekend, it would have been nice to have been on top again. But seeing how we were struggling throughout practice, running in sixth and seventh position, we feel really good about tonight's result."
LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b):
"It was tough day. I was expecting better in qualifying because we had a good test here. Unfortunately, I think we were chasing the track a little bit. We got confused on the downforce versus the mechanical grip and couldn't find a good balance for qualifying. I think we have a strong race car and tomorrow should be a lot better."
FRANCK MONTAGNY (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01b):
"The XM Acura was all right during qualifying. We are starting on the second row, which is much better than starting last like we had to do last weekend. The car will be strong in the race, but it was missing something for qualifying. But we are getting better. We are now battling for P1, P2, P3 all of the time."
Porsche
MID-OHIO QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS PORSCHE/ACURA AND PORSCHE FERRARI RIVALRIES; RS SPYDER TO START ON LMP2 SECOND ROW AND 911 GT3 RSR ON GT2 FRONT ROW FOR SATURDAY'S RACE
ALTANTA - July 18 -With the top seven qualifying positions overall separated by less than one second, the Penske Porsche RS Spyder of Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) qualified third overall and third in the LMP2 class for tomorrow's American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, the Acura Sports Car Challenge.
Bernhard, who qualified the car, realized how close the qualifying session was, and thought the team had a good car for tomorrow's event.
"To be less than three-tenths of a second off the pole is a good position for us, and the car feels good. Romain and I have won this race two years in a row, and we both feel that we can get the most from the RS Spyder at this track," said Bernhard.
The de Ferran/Pagenaud Acura and the Brabham/Sharp Acura are just ahead the Bernhard/Dumas Porsche, with the Matos/Montagny Acura four. The other Porsche RS Spyders all qualified in the top ten, with the #6 Penske Porsche of Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) eighth overall (sixth in class); the #16 Dyson Racing Porsche of Guy Smith (England) and Chris Dyson (USA) ninth overall (seventh in class); and the #20 Dyson Porsche of Marino Franchitti (Scotland) and Butch Leitzinger (USA) tenth overall (eighth in class).
In the GT2 class for production-based sports cars, Dirk Werner (Germany), sharing the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Richard Westbrook (England), held the provisional pole position for most of the 20-minute qualifying session, but lost out in the last two minutes to the Melo/Salo Ferrari.
Werner was disappointed not to gain his second straight pole, but he thought the crew had the car well set up for tomorrow's race.
"The Farnbacher Loles Porsche was very fast during qualifying, but the window to turn a fast lap during the short 20-minute session is only a lap or two, and I lost a tenth or two from traffic in both fast laps. You can't win the pole every week, and we started first at Lime Rock last Saturday, but we think the car is set up well for the race. There are many more opportunities for the prototypes to pass the GT cars here, so we should have less yellow flags than last week, and we are shooting for another podium finish," said Werner.
The #45 Flying Lizard Porsche qualified by Wolf Henzler (Germany) and shared with Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) will start third on the GT2 grid, just ahead of the Mueller/Farnbacher Ferrari. The second Lizard Porsche, qualified by Patrick Pilet (France) and raced with Johannes van Overbeek (USA) , starts fifth, while the third team car, qualified by Lonnie Pechnik (USA) and co-driven by Seth Neiman (USA) will start seventh. The VICI Racing Porsche, driven by Nicky Pastorelli and brother Francesco Pastorelli (The Netherlands) will start tenth on the GT2 grid.
VICI Racing will start 10th in GT2
Audi
Track record for the Audi R10 TDI at Mid-Ohio
Ingolstadt/Mid-Ohio -- Marco Werner has set a new track record for LM P1 sports cars in an exciting qualifying for the sixth round of the American Le Mans Series at Mid-Ohio (US state of Ohio). On Friday, the German beat the previous record by over a second.
On a track that traditionally favours the lighter LM P2 sports cars, Werner showed a strong performance. Several times, the German set the best time, before he dropped to fifth position in the final stages of the 20-minute qualifying session. Werner missed pole position by only 0.388 seconds and the front row by just 164 thousandths of a second.
The second Audi R10 TDI will start the race on Saturday from seventh position of the grid. Dindo Capello was able to go on the track only after ten minutes after being held in the pits by the race director -- a late and not uncontroversial penalty following a collision with a GT1 car last weekend at Lime Rock.
The Audi drivers are confident for the race on Saturday. However, the two Audi R10 TDI prototypes have to start at Mid-Ohio for a last time with a nine-litre smaller fuel tank compared to the LM P2 sports cars. From the next race at Road America, this handicap will be reduced to five litres.
The race at Mid-Ohio will begin at 2:10 p.m. local time (8:10 p.m. in Germany) and runs over a distance of 2 hours 45 minutes.
Quotes after the qualifying at Mid-Ohio
Lucas Luhr (Audi R10 TDI #2): "I am very positive because we are very close to the LM P2 cars and only about three tenths away from pole. This has been quite different in the past, especially on such tracks. We know that we tend to be much better in the race than in qualifying. That gives us all confidence. Now we need to fine-tune our set-up, then we should be well prepared for the race."
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2): "I gave everything. It was fun and went well. I went quicker from lap to lap as the tyres got better. The decision to swap the tyres from left to right in the middle of the session was also right. We made another step. I'm satisfied with my time, but not so much with fifth position. Nevertheless, it looks good for the race. The first five cars are close together. In the race we are usually running closer to the qualifying pace than the others."
Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "Having had only ten minutes for qualifying was a little bit too short, especially as it takes a lot of time here to get the tyres to work. When I saw 1m 08.9s I said: The trend is good. But then I had to back off twice because of a Dyson-Porsche. At the end there was just not enough time left. The car was much better than in the last session before the qualifying. This makes me confident for the race."
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1): "It was another very competitive qualifying as it has been the case in the last races. We are not able to beat the light cars on a single lap. But this time we are not very far away which is quite promising. Our car is 95 percent good. We'll try some more things in the warm-up and then we'll have some hard work to come in the race."
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America): "It was a good qualifying effort. We are very close to the pole. But we have our job to do tomorrow because due to our smaller fuel tank our strategy must be good."
Corvette
O'Connell Quick in Mid-Ohio GT1 Qualifying
Georgian Takes Third Career Pole in No. 3 Corvette C6.R
LEXINGTON, Ohio, July 18, 2008 – Johnny O'Connell notched his third career pole in qualifying for Saturday's American Le Mans Series Acura Sports Car Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The racer from Flowery Branch, Ga., set the pace in the GT1 class with a lap time of 1:17.900 (104.349 mph) in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. Olivier Beretta was .429 seconds back in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette with a 1:18.329 (103.778 mph) qualifying time.
"I'm usually a pretty bad qualifier, and I was going up against Olivier Beretta, the guy who has won more poles than any other driver in the ALMS," O'Connell said. "Anytime you can beat a guy like that, it's a good day!"
Both Corvette drivers made five timed laps. O'Connell set his quick time on his third time around the 2.25-mile Mid-Ohio circuit, while Beretta was fastest on his fourth circuit.
"It was definitely a challenge because we went into qualifying on a tire compound that we hadn't run before in anticipation of the track temperature tomorrow," O'Connell explained. "It was disappointing we didn't go faster, but the car didn't like that setup. Jan (Magnussen) and I have had a good car and we've been fast in every session, so we're looking forward to a great race tomorrow."
Heat and humidity will be a factor in the two-hour, 45-minute race.
"It's going to be a workout," O'Connell predicted. "When we run after the Indy cars, we've got good grip even though they run a different tire. Then the track gets a little more slippery, so it will be interesting to see how the track changes on race day."
Beretta had difficulty matching O'Connell's pace. "I was pushing, trying to get the best that I can, but it was not good enough," Beretta reported. "Traffic was a little bit of a problem, but we are struggling with the car.
"The engineers and crew worked very well, they tried everything they could, but we just ran out of time," he continued. "We have a problem, we are looking for the solution, and we will find it. This is part of the racing game, but the race is far from finished."