Valiante has continued his good form at VIR
ALTON, Va. (April 26, 2008) - Michael Valiante was awarded his first career pole position when fast timer Memo Rojas' car failed post-qualifying inspection Saturday at Virginia International Raceway.
Valiante ran a lap of 1:43.329 in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Dallara, and will start on the pole in Sunday¹s Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway, Round 4 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.
The No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley of Rojas and Scott Pruett - the current Daytona Prototype point leaders - and the No. 99 GAINSCO Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley of fourth-fastest qualifier Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney were found to have a wing measurement outside Grand-Am tolerances. Both cars will start Sunday's race from the
back of the Daytona Prototype grid.
Running his fourth race for Wayne Taylor Racing, Valiante led much of the 15-minute session before being passed by Rojas late in the session.
Brian Frisselle was second in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley, followed by David Donohue in the No. 58 Brumos Porsche Riley, 1:43.943, and Joey Hand in the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday/Alex Job Racing Porsche Crawford, 1:44.439.
Ricky Taylor timed in fifth fastest in the debut of the No. 19 Beyer Racing Ford Crawford. The 18-year-old son of Wayne Taylor ran a lap of 1:44.446 in the car he shares with fellow 18-year-old Jared Beyer and veteran Andy Wallace.
Ganassi had the fastest time but the car was judged illegal
In GT, Dominik Farnbacher scored his first career GT pole with a track record lap of 1:53.401 in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3, followed by Mexico City winner Andrew David in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R, and James Gue in the No. 97 Stevenson Motorsports Corvette.
³I¹m very proud of winning the pole, because I never did that in this series before or in America before,² Farnbacher said. ³I was driving very, very rough over the curbings. I tried some new things on my other laps. I know how the track works now. Let¹s see what we can do tomorrow.²
It is the second consecutive pole for Farnbacher Loles in the class, with Pierre Kaffer setting fast time at Mexico City in a substitute role for Dominik Farnbacher. Collins set the second-fastest speed on his last lap of the session.
Two GT cars had their times disallowed and were moved to the back of the pack. The No. 07 Banner Pontiac GXP.R. of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards had set the second-fastest time, but the car was found to be excessively low in front.; Also, the No. 88 Farnbacher Loles Porsche of 16th-qualifier Steve Johnson was found to be underweight.
Gue will share the No. 97 Corvette with Randy Pobst in the first appearance of that car this season.
Farnbacher Loles continues their GT qualifying form to snatch GT pole
There will be a final practice session Sunday morning from 8:30-8:50 a.m. (ET). The Bosch Engineering 250, a 77-lap, 250-mile race with a two-hour and 45-minute take limit, is set to take the green flat at 1 p.m. The race will be taped for a May 3 telecast on SPEED TV.
The Grid
1 DP M.Angelelli, M.Valiante SunTrust Racing Pontiac Dallara 01:43.3 113.927
2 DP Br.Frisselle, M.Wilkins AIM Autosport Ford Riley 01:43.5 113.733
3 DP J.Fogarty, A.Gurney Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley 01:43.5 113.677
4 DP D.Donohue, D.Law Brumos Porsche Porsche Riley 01:43.8 113.409
5 DP B.Auberlen, J.Hand Alex Job Racing Porsche Crawford 01:44.4 112.716
6 DP J.Beyer, R.Taylor, A.Wallace Beyer Racing Ford Crawford 01:44.4 112.708
7 DP N.Jonsson, R.Zonta Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola 01:45.0 112.102
8 DP M.Gidley, B.Jaeger Doran Racing Ford Dallara 01:45.3 111.718
9 DP M.Bobbi, T.Kimber-Smith Cheever Racing Pontiac Coyote 01:45.4 111.655
10 DP B.Lester, S.Lewis Southard Motorsports Lexus Riley 01:45.4 111.649
11 DP I.James, J.Pew Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley 01:45.8 111.164
12 DP Bu.Frisselle G.Gardel Doran Racing Ford Dallara 01:45.8 111.164
13 DP M.Goossens, J.Matthews Bob Stallings/Riley-Matthews Pontiac Riley 01:45.9 111.098
14 DP O.Negri, M.Patterson Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley 01:45.9 111.084
15 DP J.Barbosa, JC.France Brumos Porsche Porsche Riley 01:46.4 110.591
16 DP M.Plumb, G.Sigal Sigalsport Rum Bum Racing BMW Riley 01:46.9 110.083
17 DP T.Krohn, E.van de Poele Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola 01:48.4 108.591
18 DP S.Pruett, M.Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley 1:43.1 114.177 *
19 GT D.Farnbacher, D.Werner Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 01:53.4 103.808
20 GT K.Collins, P.Edwards Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R 01:53.4 103.751
21 GT J.Gue, R.Pobst Stevenson Motorsports Corvette 01:53.6 103.615
22 GT N.Ham, S.Tremblay SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 01:53.9 103.35
23 GT D.Alessi, J.Seyffarth Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac GTO.R 01:53.9 103.266
24 GT P.Long, D.Murry Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 Cup 01:54.1 103.125
25 GT L.Keen, E.Lux Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 01:54.1 103.083
26 GT C.Espenlaub, J.Foster Hyper Sport Mazda RX-8 01:54.2 103.01
27 GT C.Stone, J.Riley Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8 01:54.4 102.885
28 GT L.Aschenbach, T.Lewis Autohaus Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R 01:54.5 102.746
29 DP R.Dalziel, H.Zogaib SAMAX BMW Riley 01:54.6 102.709
30 GT E.Assentato, J.Segal SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 01:54.6 102.708
31 GT M.Bunting, L.Reese Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R 01:55.2 102.171
32 GT T.George, S.Pumpelly TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 01:55.4 102.006
33 GT J-F.Dumoulin, T.Nastasi Blackforest Motorsports Mustang Cobra GT 01:55.4 101.954
34 GT D.Lacey, S.Johnson Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 01:55.6 101.75
35 GT M.Forest, P.Barrett PR1 Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R 01:55.7 101.711
36 GT T.Ballou, B.Miller TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 01:56.1 101.374
37 GT J.Nonnamaker, Wa.Nonnamaker Team Sahlen Corvette 01:56.8 100.783
38 GT C.Stanton, C.de Quesada Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 01:58.1 99.674
39 GT J.Lowe, J.Pace TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 01:58.2 99.535
40 GT Wi.Nonnamaker, J.Sahlen Team Sahlen Corvette 01:59.1 98.827
41 GT B.Sellers, RJ.Valentine TRG Porsche GT3 Cup 01:59.2 98.727
42 GT S.Gabel, R.Garcia Alegra Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 01:59.9 98.175
43 GT C.Friedman, M.McGehee Autometrics Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup 02:02.2 96.262
44 GT M.Grant, K.Grant, C.Grant Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 Cup 02:04.8 94.314
45 GT A.Davis, R.Liddell Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R - -
* Time disallowed due to failure in post-qualifying inspection