Grand-Am, Rolex 24 At Daytona - Qualifying Report
Lizards Fly To Pole

The first of the two qualifying sessions got underway on schedule on Thursday afternoon in perfect conditions, and by its conclusion Jörg Bergmeister had placed the Flying Lizard Riley Porsche on pole for Saturday’s race.

Max Angelelli was the early leader in the session, in the #10 SunTrust Dallara, but was usurped by Antonio Garcia in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote; before the Spaniard was himself deposed by the tall German in the former Brumos car.

At this point provisional pole stood at 1:40.323 – already the fastest time of the day – but Angelelli soon shaved two tenths off to retake the top slot.

With eight minutes gone Ryan Dalziel was into second place in the #8 Starworks Riley, but such was the competition that Scott Pruett crossed the line five-thousandths of a second faster shortly afterwards.

With just a few minutes remaining, however, Bergmeister had another go; “I was about to come in, but the team said that I was so close to pole that I should stay out and have another go.

“The car was perfect and I could push and managed to set the fastest lap. I have to say thanks to the team – for the first time with a DP, this is impressive. I wasn’t expecting pole and had started out with the aim of a top-five result.”

“I’m very happy to have put the car on the front row,” said Angelelli. “We have a good car and a good engine and the front row is a good feeling.”

Martin Brundle took the United Autosports Riley Ford into the top ten with a 1:40.784, while Brian Frisselle was seventh fastest in the #77 Doran racing Dallara. Neither of the two Level 5 Motorsports Riley BMWs took part in the session, for reasons unknown at present.

The GT session followed on 15 minutes later, and was similarly closely fought; although, as expected, it was largely a Porsche event.

Andy Lally continued his good work from earlier sessions and went top again in the early stages. Craig Stanton briefly went to the top, but Lally wasted no time in retaking provisional pole.

With six minutes of the session having elapsed, a Camaro appeared in second place. But this was not the Stevenson car, but instead the #88 Autohaus car in the hands of Jordan Taylor. 

The top three was soon once again a Porsche-only zone as Dominik Farnbacher – originally slated to drive the ill-fated #00 Aten Ferrari – took second in the #66 TRG car; three tenths off Lally’s 1:48.487. And that was how it stayed to the end; at least as far as the front row was concerned.

With 3 minutes remaining, Nick Tandy’s name appeared in third place as the English driver took the #17 Burtin Racing Porsche into third; but Taylor hadn’t given up and retook third for Autohaus with an excellent last-minute effort.

“It was a great lap,” said Lally, in the few seconds he had available before rushing off to qualify his KIA in the Continental Tire race. “TRG has been hassling to get me a great car and they’ve really produced the goods. The lap was a dream – I caught a whiff of a draft off someone down the back straight and it was just perfect.”

“I had a good lap too,” said Farnbacher, “but I had no draught – I couldn’t find a victim to get hold of. The car was phenomenal in the Horseshoe and had very good traction in the braking areas, but I had a bit of a lock up on one tyre which wasn’t cured by adjusting the brake bias, so I had to brake a bit more gently than I wanted to. But Andy did a very good job and deserved pole.”

Robin Liddell took eighth in the #57 Stevenson Camaro, just ahead of Boris Said in the #94 Turner M3; but you had to go down to 14th to find the first Mazda – the Wayne Nonnamaker-pedalled #42 Team Sahlen RX-8.

Update - the #67 TRG has been disqualified after failing post-session tech. An illegal rear-wing position was the apparent culprit, and Lally will be starting the race from the rather less-user friendly last row.

MH