Albers qualifying for his first ALMS race
Audi
Acura
Porsche
Corvette
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Audi
Ingolstadt/Laguna Seca -- Emanuele Pirro has captured the LM P1 pole position at Laguna Seca (U.S. state of California) in his last race with the Audi R10 TDI. On Friday, the Italian won the qualifying battle against his team-mate Lucas Luhr.
Team Audi Sport North America's two Audi R10 TDI prototypes will line-up on the fifth row of the starting grid for the finale of the American Le Mans Series. In unexpected hot conditions, the LM P1 cars had no chance to match the qualifying pace of the lighter LM P2 prototypes. With gaps of 1.1 and 1.7 seconds respectively, Pirro and Luhr qualified ninth and tenth.
Pirro was on a quicker lap when the qualifying session had to be stopped because of a car stuck in the gravel. Luhr was complaining about an understeering car on the slippery track and did not find a clear lap.
Audi had captured the titles in the LM P1 class of the American Le Mans Series already prior the finale. The Audi R10 TDI is undefeated at Laguna Seca so far.
The race starts on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. local time (11:45 p.m. in Germany) and runs over a distance of four hours into the darkness.
Starting driver in the number 1 Audi R10 TDI will be Christijan Albers from the Netherlands who will be competing in his first ever sportscar race at Laguna Seca. Lucas Luhr will be the start driver in the sister car.
Christijan Albers (Audi R10 TDI #1): "The car is not easy to drive, especially on a new track. I have to get used to everything. But there is a good atmosphere in the team and we work together well. I'm going quicker every lap. So I'm quite happy. 'EP' did a very good qualifying. I'm excited about tomorrow because this will be my first sports car race in my career and my first rolling start. I'm looking forward to it."
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1): "It's been an exciting qualifying which I enjoyed very much. If you need to build a track tailor made for the lighter LM P2 cars you would build a replica of Laguna Seca. We have to do what we can. Our car is well balanced. We know that the R10 TDI will perform a lot better versus the light cars in the race. And the race is long."
Lucas Luhr (Audi R10 TDI #2): "We waited a little bit at the beginning to find a gap. Unfortunately I came out just in traffic which was not good. On top of that I hate understeer -- if 100 is bad I had 250. We have to try to improve the car for the race. This will be quite some work."
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2): "Of course we are not content. Because of the sand the track conditions keep changing from lap to lap. If somebody is running over the kerbs the conditions are getting even worse. Right now, however, we are not happy with the car. We hope it will be cooler tomorrow. This should help us."
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America): "The lap times are close to last year except for the pole setter. It seems that the track was a little bit slower today due to the hot weather."
Acura
MONTEREY, Calif. -- David Brabham continued his bid for American Le Mans Series "Driver of the Year" Friday at Laguna Seca.
The Patron Highcroft Racing veteran turned in another superlative performance by breaking the Laguna Seca sports-car track record with a lap time of one minute, 10.103 seconds for an average speed of 114.928 miles per hour and the overall pole position for Saturday's four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championships on the legendary 2.238-mile, 11-turn road circuit.
The record run, bettering Sasha Maassen's old mark of114.235, was Brabham's third overall pole in 2008, his tenth ALMS career pole and his fourth in the No. 9 Patron Highcroft Acura ARX-01b LMP2 machine.
Brabham, who'll co-drive with Scott Sharp, will be seeking his fifth LMP2 class win of the 2008 ALMS campaign when the green flag drops at 2:45 p.m. PDT in the final round of the 11-race sports-car series.
Brabham fought off the challenges of his other Acura competitors and the Porsches of Penske Racing to secure the final pole position of the year. He also won overall poles at Lime Rock and Detroit this year.
A last-lap effort by Luis Diaz in the No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b made it an all-Acura front row when the popular Mexican driver posted a lap time of 1:10.202 [114.766 m.p.h.]. Veteran Adrian Fernandez will co-drive with Diaz in Saturday's ALMS finale.
Former Indy 500 champion Gil de Ferran drove his No. 66 Panasonic ELS Acura ARX-01b to fourth overall in the 34-car starting lineup with an average speed of 114.360. The former Laguna Seca CART race winner [1995] will team with young Frenchman Simon Pagenaud Saturday as the new Acura team seeks its first ALMS victory.
Open-wheel star Tony Kanaan, the 2004 IndyCar Series champion, recorded the fifth-fastest speed at 114.172 in the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01b prototype. Kanaan jumped to the top of the charts in the early portion of the 20-minute qualifying run, but the personable Brazilian had to settle for fifth at the checkered flag Friday. Kanaan will drive with Detroit Belle Isle overall winner Franck Montagny at Laguna Seca.
DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b): We had a good strategy for qualifying. We waited for the proper spacing on the track. Then we got into a good rhythm. I was able to get the right place on the track and the lap time came to me. This has been such a great year with Patron Highcroft Racing. I can't think of a better place to be, with Patron Highcroft and the American Le Mans Series. This series is one of the best in the world. Today's qualifying was very satisfying."
LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): "We have a great car this weekend. The Lowe's Acura is handling very well and I was able to get a strong lap at the end of the session. In fact, it was so smooth that I was surprised by the lap time. It is exciting to be a part of an all-Acura front row. For the race, we have to stay out of trouble at the start. The last race at Road Atlanta was frustrating because we got taken out. I want to turn the car over to Adrian [Fernandez] in good shape for the rest of the race. I think we have a strong race car here. We have a great chance to race for the win Saturday.."
GIL De FERRAN (#66 Panasonic ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b): "That was a very intense qualifying run today. We felt like we had a car for the pole. We just missed a little on the setup, but we are pleased to be in the first two rows. This track is very physical for the drivers. The G-loads are tough with the type of downforce we have with the prototypes. But overall, our Acura is going to be in a position to contend for the win. I'm pleased with the progress we have made this weekend.
TONY KANAAN (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01b): "Qualifying didn't go as well as we wanted. But we have a great car for the race. Franck and I are very pleased with the setup for the AGR XM Acura. This Acura car is so much fun to drive. We had a great race here last year. Now, we want to win it here at Laguna Seca. This is one of my favorite tracks."
Porsche
ATLANTA - October 17 - Porsche race drivers in the LMP2 and GT2 classes of the American Le Mans Series have put their teams in position to help Porsche clinch the manufacturers championship with solid qualifying efforts for tomorrow race.
The race, which starts at 5:45 PM EDT on Saturday, October 18, and runs for four hours, will be telecast on a delayed basis by NBC-TV on Sunday, October 19, at 2:00 PM EDT. The race will be covered live on the American Le Mans Radio web at www.americanlemans.com, which will also provide live timing and scoring for the event.
In the LMP2 class for prototypes, 2008 Driver Champion Timo Bernhard (Germany), who will share his #7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder with co-champion Romain Dumas (France), earned third place on the grid behind two of the Acuras - a position good enough to gain the manufacturers title if everyone finished the same way. With 25 points to the winners in each class, Porsche leads Acura by eight points in LMP2, and with 21 points for second and 18 points for third, Porsche just needs a podium finish to clinch.
Other LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder qualifiers included Sascha Maassen (Germany), who will drive with Patrick Long (USA) in the #6 Penske Porsche (sixth); Ryan Briscoe (Australia), who will drive with Helio Castroneves (Brazil) in the #5 Penske Porsche (seventh); Guy Smith (England), who will drive with Chris Dyson (USA) in the #16 Dyson Racing Porsche (eighth); and Butch Leitzinger (USA), who will drive with Marino Franchitti (Scotland) in the #20 Dyson Racing Porsche (ninth).
On the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca course, Porsche is in an even stronger position to win the manufacturers title - its eighth in the ten years of the series - in GT2 as Dirk Werner (Germany) posted the fastest qualifying time to take his second pole position of the season in the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Werner, the 2007 Rolex Grand-Am GT champion, who will drive with Bryce Miller (USA), said a fast, early lap in qualifying helps save the tires for the race.
"Since we have to start on the tires we qualify on, it was important to turn our fast lap early, and then come into the pits and hope no one beat us. As it turned out, we only ran four laps, less than anyone else in class, so our tires will be fresher for the first stint in the race," said Werner, who beat all the Ferraris and the rest of the Porsches for the spot.
With a 15-point lead in the manufacturers championship over Ferrari, Porsche just needs to finish in the top seven to clinch the title.
Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler (both Germany), who clinched 2008 GT2 drivers championship at the last event, will start second in their #45 Flying Lizard Porsche, while their Lizard team mates Johannes van Overbeek (USA) and Patrick Pilet (France) qualified fourth, and the VICI Racing Porsche of Nicky and Francesco Pastorelli (both The Netherlands) and Marc Basseng (Germany) will start ninth.
The third Lizard Porsche, driven by Seth Neiman/Lonnie Pechnik/Darren Law (all USA) were 15th in class qualifying.
Corvette
MONTEREY
, Calif., Oct. 17, 2008 -- Jan Magnussen made an enduring mark in the record book in qualifying today at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. On a track that Magnussen describes as "my favorite circuit in the world," the Danish driver eclipsed the record he set last year with a fast lap at 1:19.291 (101.611 mph) that put his No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R on the GT1 pole for Saturday's Monterey Sports Car Championships. With the championship-winning Corvette C6.Rs making their final appearance at Laguna Seca in the GT1 division, Magnussen's mark will likely stand for many years.
"I pushed really, really hard -- and it was our best lap ever!" Magnussen exclaimed. "My fast lap came early in my qualifying run, so I could afford to gamble a little and go for it. If it didn't work out, I knew I could have another go."
Magnussen turned his quick time on the second of his four flying laps, while Gavin posted his best time on his third circuit of the 2.238-mile course on California's central coast.
"I didn't have any traffic, and not too many guys had been over the curbs, so there wasn't a lot of dust dragged onto the track," Magnussen explained. "Then on my last lap I had a huge moment. A GT2 car had gone straight through the Corkscrew and dragged a lot of dirt onto the track. My crew chief called me on the radio and told me to keep the car straight -- and when I drove through the dirt, I went completely sideways one way and then completely sideways the other way."
Magnussen's quick early pace put Gavin in the position of playing catch-up. "It was a case of not getting a quicker time in the first timed lap, but Jan managed to do that," Gavin said. "I would have thought the tire pressures would come up a little more gradually, but Jan got on it straight away. Then when I was ready to go, I got caught up in a lot of traffic as often seems to happen in the GT qualifying session. By the time I'd got myself out of that, I'd missed my opportunity.
"You always want to be on pole, but it's a long race and we're ready to take the fight to the other car," Gavin noted. "It's great to race here. I love the track and it's a great facility, so it's a fitting place to finish the season."
A victory by Magnussen and his teammate Johnny O'Connell would be their ninth win in 2008, tying the ALMS record for most wins in a season.
"I feel very optimistic," said Magnussen. "This is my favorite circuit in the world, and I'd love for Johnny and me to finish off with a win tomorrow. If we don't, it's still been a great year."