A track record for Penske could only them to third in class as Acura were also able to better the track record
Penske
Dyson
Fernandez
Highcroft
David Brabham
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Penske
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (August 8, 2008) - Romain Dumas (France), who shares the No. 7 LMP2 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder with Timo Bernhard (Germany) broke the track qualifying record in the LMP2 class, but it wasn't quite enough to capture the pole for their Porsche for Saturday's four-hour Generac 500 at Road America. Dumas and Bernhard, defending overall race winners and 2008 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) LMP2 class championship points leaders, will start in third position in LMP2.
The No. 6 Patrick Long (USA)/Sascha Maassen (Germany) Penske Porsche RS Spyder also broke the track qualifying record, but due to impressive competition, they will be starting sixth in class.
"In a four-hour race, we will have four or five pit stops, several yellow flags, and other events that will ultimately determine the outcome of the race," said Long, former ALMS GT2 champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner. "The Acuras are fast, but we can win if we drive smart and out-maneuver the competition."
Dyson
ELKHART LAKE, WI August 8, 2008 In keeping with its reputation as the world's fastest permanent road course, qualifying records fell sharply this afternoon at Road America for tomorrow's Generac 500 American Le Mans race. The LMP2 pole time eclipsed the existing record by a second and a half, the largest P2 improvement this season. The two Dyson cars qualified almost two seconds quicker than their 2007 times and will line up seventh and eighth in class, with Marino Franchitti setting fast time for the #20 Porsche RS Spyder and Chris Dyson qualifying the #16 Thetford/Norcold entry.
"We qualified a tenth off the second Penske Porsche and have two well-balanced cars for the race," said Dyson. "It is a four- hour race and you concentrate on setting up a car that works equally well in the diversity of high and low speed corners that Road America is known for. We have had good race cars at this track and have finished on the podium in three of our last five races here."
"This is one of the better tracks," agreed Franchitti. "Unlike some tracks that feel like they were created in a laboratory, this is a very organic track. It is challenging track for aero balance where the car needs to be well balanced in all situations."
"It is a known as a horsepower circuit because of the long straights," said Guy Smith. "But it is also important to have mechanical balance because of the slow corners that you need to come off of as smoothly and quickly as possible because of the impact on your top end speed. Braking efficiency is also critical since you need to carry your speed as long as you can on the straights."
"This is a circuit that lets the car do what it wants to," commented Butch Leitzinger. "It gives you a feeling of freedom as a driver. They really did it right in the fifties when they were building this track. They went out in the woods no slide rules, no architects. They built the track to the land and gave it a great natural flow. I watched a lot of races here when my dad was racing and always look forward to coming back each year."
Dyson struggled and were at the tail of the LMP2 field
Fernandez
Lowe's Fernandez Racing Qualifies Second in Class at Road America
Lowe's Fernandez Racing will line up on Row Two of the grid for Saturday's Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable at Road America. Adrian Fernandez handled qualifying duties for the #15 Lowe's Acura ARX this afternoon, claiming a second-place LMP2 class starting position and fourth-place overall result.
Fernandez made a valiant effort to chase down fellow Acura driver and LMP2 class polesitter Franck Montagny in the closing stages of the 20-minute qualifying session, missing the mark by only 0.294 seconds. This is the fourth top-three LMP2 starting position for Lowe's Fernandez Racing this season. Five drivers managed to better the LMP2 class qualifying track record of 1:48.833 133.901 mph set last year.
Fernandez and Luis Diaz, who managed testing duties at Road America for the team on Monday, are looking to improve on their third-place result at Mid-Ohio three weeks ago. The pair have finished in the top five the past three races -- in class and overall -- and are currently 21 points outside the top three in the championship in sixth position.
Adrian Fernandez, #15 Lowe's Acura ARX: "So far, this weekend has been good for us. We have been competitive from the time we unloaded. Luis started the work on Monday during our test and did a good job in finding a baseline for this car. Practice this morning was good but there was a lot of traffic and we never managed to put a good lap time. Qualifying was good but I wouldn't say it was perfect. I had some traffic that, while it didn't disturb me on my fast lap, I could not prepare on my out lap. Sometimes you need to reach a good temperature on the tires before you can punch the good one. I had to slow down quite a bit just to make a gap in front of me. The car had quite a good balance and there was a lot of grip at the end. When they told me I needed four-tenths [of a second] more, I did four or five [tenths] but [Franck] Montagny went a little bit faster. On my last lap, I was at one-tenth less but unfortunately I went a little wide in one of the corners when I put the power down. I lost the rear and lost the momentum and that was it. It was good job by everyone and we are looking forward to having a good race tomorrow. It is a long race and hopefully we have the car to win."
Luis Diaz, #15 Lowe's Acura ARX: "We have a good car for tomorrow. We have had a few races that we haven't been this competitive in qualifying but we showed the potential in the race. If we can put together what we have learned in the last two races, I'm pretty sure we will have a good result here. I am very happy that the boss is happy with the car. The guys did a great job all this week. This is good motivation for everybody and we are looking forward to tomorrow's race."
Highcroft
Today's qualifying session for Sunday's Generac 500 at Elkhart Lake's Road America, Round 7 of the 2008 American Le Mans Series, may not have produced the precise result the Patron Highcroft Acura team was looking for, but driver David Brabham feels the team is in good shape for tomorrow's race.
Brabham's teammate, Scott Sharp, will start Highcroft's LMP2 Acura sixth tomorrow, even though Brabham qualified less than three-fourths of a second slower than the new track record of 1:46.935 (136.277mph) set by pole winner Lucas Luhr in the LMP1-class Audi R10.
"Our speed in the last practice session before qualifying gave us a lot of hope," noted Brabham, "because we had tried a lot of different things in yesterday's test session that didn't quite work out. Today we had a completely different setup on the car, and were able to fine-tune one steady-state setup; the guys did a fantastic job because it just got better and better.
"We were second overall and fastest in our class in the last practice session," Brabham continued, "and in qualifying we just missed a little bit of grip getting into the apex. I'm not too disappointed, though, because in terms of setup I feel we've got a better race car than a qualifying car. We proved that the consistency and the lap time are there all the time with the Michelin tires, and I think we've got a setup that will work very well for a long period, and it's a four-hour race."
David Brabham
Brabham Fourth LMP2 in Road America Qualifying Thriller
David Brabham qualified fourth in class and sixth overall for round seven of the American Le Mans Series, Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable, in what was a gripping battle on Friday afternoon at Road America. The 42 year-old ended the session a mere four tenths of a second off of Franck Montagny, who finished fastest in LMP2, with one second covering the first seven cars at the challenging circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
The Australian sportscar ace, who resides in Henley-on-Thames in the UK, topped the LMP2 timesheets in the second practice on Friday afternoon and followed his form into qualifying to run fastest in the first half of the session. A thrilling LMP2 class battle ensued, with Montagny slotting in a time good enough for second overall and fastest in LMP2 while Adrian Fernandez and Romain Dumas also joined the class battle.
Brabham's best time of 1:47.774 in the Patron Highcroft Racing Acura was less than four hundredths of a second shy from clinching third fastest in LMP2 and qualifying ahead of championship class leader Dumas. Only one tenth separated Brabs from lining up second in class and fourth overall.
"We were struggling on Thursday but everything started to come together in the second practice session today," said Brabs. "The qualifying set up wasn't quite as good and it was a really close session but I managed to post consistent times and the car felt comfortable. With a little fine tuning in warm up tomorrow I'm confident that we have a strong race car set up. It's a long race so the aim will be to make the most of it and get as many points as possible."
Brabham's pairing with team mate Scott Sharp has delivered two wins and two second place finishes so far this season, earning second overall in the championship standings. Brabs will start the four-hour Road America battle on Saturday afternoon aiming for their third victory in order to reduce Dumas and team mate Timo Bernhard's 28 point advantage.