ALMS – Road America – Generac 500 - Qualifying Report
As Expected
© Russell Wittenberg

GT classes took to the track first and the Corvettes wasted no time getting down to business. Like machines Beretta and Magnussen hammered out four perfect laps and returned to pit lane. Mags was quickest this time, just a scant 0.1 seconds faster than his team-mate.

That’s it then, business as usual for the big yellow cars in GT1. Or does the patiently waiting Theys in the Doran/Lista Maserati have something for the GT1 champions?

Theys finally takes to the track at about the halfway point and lays down a respectable 2:02.4 - still two seconds off the Corvettes but by far the quickest time for them so far. Theys kept at it, and with just five minutes to go he bettered his time and gets the MC12 into the 2:01s for the first time. Theys was now less than one second off the pace of Beretta and still circulating. Was Corvette starting to worry? Theys did improve again on his final lap, but only by 0.1 seconds which was not quite enough to unseat the Corvettes.

Jan Magnussen: “The car was perfect. We stayed in the pits watching the Maserati. As they kept improving their time we were hoping our time would stand. It did of course but it’s nice to have the competition. Now if Aston will get their finger out and come play with us too.“

Jaime Melo in the #62 Risi Ferrari broke the GT2 lap record with a 2:07.191 lap time on his fourth lap, on his way to class pole. He too would then park it and wait. Dirk Mueller In the #31 Ferrari made a couple of runs at Melo’s time, getting down to 2:07.6, but finally settling for second best. Following Mueller was the other Risi car with Gianmaria Bruni giving Ferrari a sweep of the top three positions.

Jaime Melo: “The car really started to improve in the last practice session. I still believe it is a better car for the race than for qualifying.”

Dirk Mueller was happy too: “I am very happy to have Peter as a team-mate and we're working very well together. With that, the whole package is there for a great day tomorrow. I think this is definitely the hottest race weekend of the year for me, including the FIA GT, but I think we will be OK.”

Tom Milner held the fourth spot for the first half of the session - until Jorg Bergmeister, who came out late in the session, took over the fourth spot and fastest of the non-Ferraris. Johannes van Overbeek seems to have settled for getting onto the podium on Saturday.

Joey Hand in the #22 Panoz had been one of the quicker cars in all the practice sessions but was unable to improve enough during qualifying to make an impact.

Unbelievably not since Sebring has Allan McNish claimed overall pole position. But right from the start of this session it was all McNish. His first flying lap was a 1:48 and then he shortly thereafter laid out a blistering 1:47.8, scorching the previous track record by over one second.

McNish would then lay in wait as the assault on his time mounted - from the Penske Spyders and finally his sister car of Marco Werner. He was late taking the track because the team was busy completing repairs (gearbox) needed after the earlier practice session. With just a few minutes remaining Werner followed up his first flying lap of 1:48.7 with a 1:48 flat. McNish responded by returning to the track with just enough time for one flyer. As time ran out McNish took the checkered flag on the session and posted his best time, a new track record lap of 1:47.665.

Allan McNish: “We worked on the cars very hard in between sessions and we hit the sweet spot at the right time. The circuit is obviously bigger and faster that what we have been running and there is no question that it suits our car. We knew we would be more competitive here, and there have been some developments with the car. The improvements that we are making are very small, minor adjustments to the car, but they all add up. I think this year we’ve been forced to think about the whole operation as a unit and we’ve explored deeper into that then ever before.”

Emanuele Pirro: “The highlights of the day were our mechanics and Marco (Werner). I think few people would have been able to do the job our mechanics did: to change the whole gearbox in such a short time. And very few drivers would have been able to be so fast without having had practice before. Big applause for all of them!"

The best of the rest in P1 was Jon Field in his Kuhmo shod Creation/Judd. Field’s time of 1:53.5 was by far their quickest time of the race meeting and may be sign of the improvements they feel they have been making in the car.

As McNish was securing the overall and P1 class pole, there was a nice battle for P2 pole honors. Halfway through the session the order was Briscoe with a 1:49.3 followed by Franchitti, Smith and Diaz. Both Franchitti and Smith would get into the 1:50s but could never break that mark. Marino Franchitti certainly tried and he pushed the Acura ARX-01a beyond its limits and looped into the gravel trap at one point. He was able to right himself and continue on, but would have to settle for fourth position.

Meanwhile Dumas and Brabham had both elected to come out later in the session for their runs. Dumas jumped quickly into second in class with a 1:49.7. Briscoe responded and dropped his time by 0.2 seconds. Brabham was next past the flag stand and on his first flying lap produced a 1:49.9 to take the third spot away from Franchitti. With time running out the order was Briscoe, Dumas and Brabham, all in the 1:49s. It was Brabham’s turn again and he did improve his time by 0.2 seconds, but it’s not enough to gain a position.

Brabham said "we're very happy with the progress. We were running ninth yesterday, so hats off to everyone in the engineering room for honing the car's set -up to perform like it did today. The team has done a fantastic job to give me a great race car - and obviously a pretty good qualifying car, too.”

Traffic had thinned as the session neared completion and Dumas had time for one last flier. With time running out, he sneaked by Briscoe in the sister Penske car with a 1:48.833. Another pole for the #7 Porsche, just class this time, and another shattered lap record.

Romain Dumas: “During my first four laps, the peak of the tires, I was in a lot of traffic. I thought then I had no chance to overtake Ryan for pole. But I was able to put together a nice clear lap at the end.”

“Based on the practice times we have seen on old tires and our consistency over longer runs, we have what really matters for a race distance,” commented Chris Dyson. “We are all quite confident that the race will tell the story this weekend.”

The final result was familiar, at least at this circuit as far as overall pole was concerned: Audi, Penske, Corvette and Ferrari. But the felling of three class records and the battles in each class right down to the checker flag made for an exciting qualifying session.