Rolex 24 - Afternoon Practice And Qualifying
Dan's Boy - 40 Years On
© Janos Wimpffen The DP qualifying took place under cool, windy, cloudy skies. It became a somewhat compressed affair. Oswaldo Negri put the No. 60 Shank Riley-Lexus into the tire wall a few minutes into the period. Only about 10 cars were able to complete a flying lap before the session was temporarily stopped. Scott Dixon in the No. 02 Ganassi Riley-Lexus was the quickest at that juncture with a 1:49.422, followed by Patrick Long in the No. 23 Job Crawford-Porsche at 1:50.489. Then came Bill Auberlen at 1:51.389 in the No. 05 Sigalsport Riley-BMW. Negri: “I came into turn one, and the ten car had gone off into the grass and the ninety-nine had a big slide going, so I thought they were going to get together, but when I went to the outside to avoid it, I spun on the standing water there and just went nose-first into the wall. I’m really disappointed for Mark and the whole team because we had the pace to do really well here in qualifying.“ Negri had set a 1:43.309 in second practice. The session resumed with only five minutes of clock time remaining. A. J. Allmendinger (No. 6 Shank Riley-Lexus) quickly jumped to third while Christian Fittipaldi took the No. 39 Cheever Crawford-Porsche to the pole, but his time was quickly eclipsed by Patrick Long. Two runners, the No. 3 Southard Riley-BMW and Tomas Enge in the No. 7 Samax Riley-Pontiac pulled off early—happy with times further down the order. Meanwhile, Patrick Carpentier in the other Samax entry (No. 11) turned in a commendable 1:43.959. With the checkered flag looming, Marc Goossens was aching to find one clear lap to stretch out the No. 91 works Riley-Pontiac. He made with a 1:43.516. But coming up behind was Max Angelelli. Suddenly it was the SunTrust Riley-Pontiac on top at 1:43.480. But there was more. Forty-five years ago Dan Gurney won the precursor to this race. Today his son took the first step toward following dad by winning the pole for the race on the very last lap. The red No. 99 Gainsco Stallings Riley-Pontiac is on top at 1:43.475.  |
Goossens noted, “I spent most of the time after the restart looking for a clear lap. When I finally got one I thought that it would be enough. I didn’t expect to be caught by these guys.” Angelelli commented that, “Doing well in this series is no longer easy. We used to be able to win the pole easily but the level of competition has gotten very high.” Gurney said that while very happy, he was not surprised by the result. “We were the second fastest at the test and had been focusing on small improvements ever since. My lap was a result of that.”  |
Besides Gurney, Angelelli and Goossens (above), the #58 and #11 Rileys locked out the top five, all in the 1:43s, with 11 cars in the 1:44s (six Rileys, four Crawfords – and the #77 Doran in 16th. Last year's pole car was in eighth, exactly two-tenths slower than its 2006 time. "The new tire has thrown quite a curve to any of the cars other than the Riley," explained Alex Job. "We are the second quickest Crawford. But, you know it's a long race. The race is all about the team. The team is the drivers, the crew and the preparation. It is good to start up front. But, the only lap I care to lead is the last one with the checkered flag."  |
The GT period was more straightforward and clean, but not without surprise. The early leader was the No. 70 Mazda of Sylvain Tremblay at 1:56.830. Although he was later passed by the Porsches, both of the SpeedSource RX-8s remained at or near the top for the entire session, Tremblay finishing third and briefly recapturing the pole. Andy Lally (No. 66 Racer’s Group) was the first of the 997s to move to the fore with a 1:52.349. Craig Stanton slotted in behind him with the No. 88 Farnbacher Loles entry at 1:52.564. Wolf Henzler came next at 1:52.311 (No. 74 Tafel Porsche) after dethroning Gunnar Jeannette’s other Farnbacher car (No. 87). Another factory Porsche driver, Dirk Werner in the third of the four Farnbacher cars, remained at the margins of the lead group with a 1:52.445. He was later passed by the quickest of the other marques, Johnny O’Connell in the No. 06 Banner Pontiac at 1:52.427. With about five minutes to go in the session a name relatively new to Daytona but known to European GT racing took the pole for good. It was Patrick Huisman in the No. 81 Synergy entry. His 1:51.800 stood up with Wolf Henzler ending at 1:52.199. The next 12 GT cars were all in the 1:52s. Only then was there an appreciable gap to the 15th fastest car, the #86 Farnbacher 997 (1:53.339). The earlier practice session of 60 minutes provided the first opportunity to complete some representative laps. Nearly all of the cars took to the circuit. Darren Law (No. 58 Brumos Riley-Porsche) was the early leader at 1:46.674, ahead of Memo Gidley (No. 77 Doran-Ford) at 1:47.468 and Michael Valiante (No. 19 Finlay Crawford-Ford) at 1:47.834. Max Papis (No. 75 Krohn Riley-Pontiac) was the first to improve at 1:46.276, with Auberlen later quickest at 1:46.292. Presaging GT qualifying, Tremblay was the early class leader at 1:54.894. Johnny Mowlem (No. 17 Doncaster Porsche) was also among the early top runners in GT. Papis and Scott Pruett (No. 01 Ganassi Riley-Lexus) had a lively duel for fast time during the middle part of the session while Dirk Werner showed the potential of the No. 85 Porsche in the GT class with a series of ever quicker laps. The session was halted for a long period when the No. 82 Synergy / Team Seattle Porsche of Tony Bawcutt ended up in the tires at Turn 3. * * *
Lest the rumor mill get out of hand: My comments about Mr. Dole and Ms. Miller could easily be taken out of hand. A mutual friend of theirs wanted to introduce them, to which they responded that they knew each other. Fiona intoned, “Indeed I’ve been a guest at the Doles.” It was innocent—I’m evil and guilty---hee, hee, hee. News And Views – from the incomparable Mrs. Miller Jeff Hazell, Krohn Racing (#75, 76): “We’re pretty well prepared actually. We had a good test here and don’t have any concerns apart from ill luck.” Have you had any ill luck? “Well, we didn’t have any last year so we’ll probably get it sooner or later!”
Tracy Krohn and Boris Said are also racing in the Koni Challenge so they’ve got their work cut out this weekend.
JJ Lehto: “Apart from Petit Le Mans last year, it’s my first time at a race meeting since Laguna in 2005.” Asked about the cars…imagine the pauses between the carefully chosen words… “These cars….are….very ….slow compared to what I’m used to….much heavier….much slower….er” At which point he ran out of things to say about the cars!
Fabrizio Gollin, Doran Racing (#77): “I did the test in early January but not a lot of laps because of four drivers in the car. But that’s okay because I know the team, the car and the track from when I drove here before in 2005. We didn’t run this morning because of the rain and this afternoon, Memo did only three laps when (big Italian shrug of the shoulders) he had a big problem. I think he touched the 02 Ganassi car and now the car is destroyed.” It did qualify in the top 20 even so.
Dirk Muller, Tafel Racing (#72): Has participated three times before at Daytona, the first time being the most successful, finishing 2nd overall in 1998 with Allan McNish, Jörg Muller, Danny Sullivan, Uwe Alzen in a Jochen Rohr run Porsche 911 GT1 (details thanks to Janos); in 1999 finished 3rd in a GT2 Porsche and then in 2000 ran with Dick Barbour, but was a DNF.
“It’s good to be back at Daytona and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m also really happy to see the American way of motor racing again. It’s more relaxed, more familiar and just much nicer. I’ve been doing touring cars since 2002 and it’s so pressured, with a very tight race schedule, and this is very different but very good.”
Marc Goossens, Lowe’s Riley-Matthews Motorsports Pontiac Riley (#91): “It was a good run, especially after our set up problems in the previous session. The car was pretty good in the qualifying run but I got caught out in traffic and missed the pole by about .15 seconds. I was one of the first cars to come across the chequered flag and thought I had a pretty good P1 spot but …we’re up there in the top three. It’s 24 hrs, but it’s important to be up there from the beginning. With the number of cars we have in the race we know there will be yellows and you can’t drop away too far. It’s important to be [to start] in the top five.
Max Angelelli, SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley (#10): “That’s four times I’ve been P2. I want first of all to thank Sun Trust to allow us to put this new team together, which only started 2 months ago. We didn’t lose any performance [with the changeover], we’ve improved from the past and I’m looking forward to the racing season. It’s nice to start on the front row, but with 24 hours it doesn’t mean a lot. Last year I started last; anything can happen. Just look at the drivers here and the spread between the cars. The secret is to stay on the track and don’t make mistakes. You have to go overnight, face the morning and be, if possible, on the lead lap ready for the last part of the race. That’s where the fight starts.”
Alex Gurney, Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley (#99): (Father Dan won here 45 years ago, in a three hour event - and was on the pole 40 years ago for the 24 Hours, in a Ford Mkll.. before going on to win Le Mans that year) “It’s a big thrill personally to win pole, especially as there are so many stars in the field. I’ve come a long way in the last few years and this is proof. The Gainsco team has put a lot of effort in and it’s neat to have the car up front. This race has got so big and this would be the crown jewel to win. Qualifying really doesn’t matter so much; it’s bragging rights, which we’re happy with for the next few days. We’re learning lessons all the time and hopefully we can keep it steady and be there at the end.”
Oliver Gavin, Howard Motorsport (Dyson Racing) Porsche Crawford (#16): “We’ve been having electrical issues following the engine change [from Pontiac to Porsche], especially with the gearshift and gear cut. The wet weather this morning didn’t help anyone, and Guy and I haven’t driven yet.
“Rob did a really good job in the rain, coming 10th, so we’re praying for rain. It’s very slippery out there on these tyres. Andy Wallace reckoned these were made back in January 2006…if you get on the white lines on the banking your car will spin, no question.
“Rob will qualify and to be honest we kind of hope he won’t be in the top 20 so we can get some more track time tomorrow.” |
