Suntrust gained their fourth pole in a row
MONTEREY, Calif. - Another race, another pole for rising Daytona Prototype star Ricky Taylor. The 21-year-old second-generation driver tamed the tricky 2.238-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Friday by running a lap of 1:20.429 (100.173) in the No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Riley he shares with Max Angelelli to capture his fourth consecutive pole position in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.
Taylor will be joined on the front row for Saturday's Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda by Jon Fogarty, who ran a lap of 1:20.866 (99.631 mph) in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet Riley co-driven by Alex Gurney.
The two-hour, 45-minute race takes the green flag at 2:30 p.m. PT on Saturday (SPEED, Sunday July 10, 4 p.m. ET).
"This car is so good that it makes me look so good in front of everybody," said Taylor, who captured his sixth career DP pole. "But no matter how good the car is, I'm out there pushing 100-percent every single lap. Our engineering staff has been trying some fresh, new ideas, and I'm loving it."
Fogarty and Gurney won the most recent Rolex Series race at Mazda Raceway in 2009 - when Fogarty qualified second. DP point leader Memo Rojas was third fastest in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley co-driven by Scott Pruett.
Andrew Davis gave Brumos Racing its first Rolex Series GT pole by running a lap of 1:29.679 (89.84 mph) in the No. 59 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. It was his second career pole, and first since he led qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park in 2006.
"I've been very, very close to winning a pole for the past three years, it's great to win one," Davis said. "I've missed the pole a few times by as much as I got it today, so I'm glad one fell our way."
Wayne Nonnamaker, surprise GT pole winner for the recent race at Road America, ran his final lap of the 15-minute session in 1:29.693 (89.826 mph) to secure the outside front row berth in the No. 42 Team Sahlen Mazda RX-8 co-driven by John Edwards.
Saturday's schedule opens with a 30-minute combined practice session, beginning at 8:30 a.m. PT.
