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GRAND AMERICAN ROAD RACING ASSOCIATION |
10/04/2004 |
CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Sweeps Front Row |
Lexus Dominate Qualifying |
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CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Sweeps Front Row for Food City 250
The CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing team swept the front row during qualifying for the Food City 250 at Phoenix International Raceway. The team's No. 01 Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype took its third Rolex Sports Car Series pole of the season in as many races.
Although all 19 Daytona Prototypes qualified together in a 15-minute session, the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing team decided to let Luis Diaz take the team's No. 02 Lexus Riley out first, while his team-mate Max Papis waited in the pits in the No. 01 Lexus. Diaz moved into the top position with his 56.452-second lap. However, his time was bested by his team-mate when Papis took to the track midway through the session, turning a 56.005-second lap on the 1.51-mile road course, topping David Donohue's Daytona Prototype track record by 1.083 seconds.
For the second-straight race, Lexus-powered Daytona Prototypes scored the top-three positions on the starting grid. Oswaldo Negri Jr. put the Michael Shank Racing No. 6 Lexus Doran in the third position with a 57.038-second lap. Wayne Taylor took the fourth position with his 57.065-second lap in the SunTrust Racing No. 10 Pontiac Riley.
Three Daytona Prototype teams will start at the rear of the grid due to rules violations during qualifying. The Red Bull Brumos Racing No. 58 Porsche Fabcar and Cegwa Sport No. 3 Lexus Fabcar will start from the back of the grid because the teams downloaded data from the race cars prior to post-qualifying technical inspection. The G&W Motorsports No. 80 BMW Picchio will start from the rear of the grid because the team failed to report its qualifying driver to officials in advance. Additionally, the CITGO Howard-Boss Motorsports No. 2 Pontiac Crawford team will be fined $1,000 for attempting to download data from the car prior to post-qualifying technical inspection.
Bill Auberlen posted the quickest time in the GT class during qualifying for Saturday night's race, recording a 1:01.639 lap in the Prototype Technology Group No. 21 BMW M3. Gunnar Jeannette posted the second-fastest time in the GT class, turning a 1:01.686 lap in the Gunnar Racing No. 45 Porsche GT3 RS he is sharing with NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver Kyle Petty this weekend.
Craig Stanton was fastest among the SGS-class competitors in the AASCO Motorsports No. 16 Porsche. His 1:03.555 lap broke the class' track record set by Devon Powell last year by 1.706 seconds. Greg Wilkins was second in the class during qualifying with his 1:04.384 lap in the Doncaster Racing No. 71 Porsche.
Both Auberlen and Stantion received the Acxiom Grand Touring Challenge Fastest Qualifier awards for leading the GT and SGS classes.
Food City 250 Qualifying Quotes
Max Papis:
"Qualifying is a big "hats off" to all of my guys. Winning the pole for the third-straight time is a great reward for all of their hard work. We've been working really hard. All of the guys on the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team make a great family. Tomorrow is going to be really, really physical, and you need to be very focused. We are going to be passing cars right and left. The most important thing to do is to be patient and bring the car home. That will lead to a good result."
Bill Auberlen:
"The M3 has been very good every session, and I am extremely happy with where we are now. The team made progress every time we were on the track. It was back and forth during qualifying for a while, but we got it. The team will work hard tonight to ensure the car is perfect."
Craig Stanton:
"The team's pulling together really well this weekend. We feel like we need to vindicate ourselves a little bit here. We had a really good test last week where we approached it like a race weekend. We got a very good handle on the No. 16 Porsche. We figure we saved a day here at Phoenix with that test. It really paid off. We were first out to qualify. It took about half a lap to get the tyre temps up. So I wanted to get a good run for the team. That was a good lap. I'm pretty pleased with that lap."
Luis Diaz:
"It has really been a great beginning (of the season) for me. All of the hard work from our guys make our jobs a lot easier. After what happened in Homestead, everyone supported me and helped me to get my confidence back. I don't think anyone here has ever had experience with so many cars on the track at the same time. This race is going to be very exciting."
Oswaldo Negri Jr.:
"This is a fantastic result for us and really shows how strong this team is even though we don't have the level of financing as some of the other teams. We haven't been able to test since the last race, but we thought through what we were going to do for qualifying and waited after the session started to get he best track temp and some clear space before going out. Burt's (Frisselle) dad was watching from the spotter stand, and was on the radio to me to make sure I was able to get a clear lap, so it was a real team effort today."
Wayne Taylor:
"I'm a bit disappointed not to start from the front row, because the car has been so good all weekend. The track felt pretty slippery, but we decided not to try and chase the setup in the heat of the afternoon sessions because of the late day race start. Max and I are confident we have a good setup for the race, even though we've compromised a bit for qualifying."
Elliot Forbes-Robinson:
"That's not as good as we would have liked, but it's much better than we practiced. We really changed a lot of things - springs, ride height, etc. - between practice and qualifying and didn't get that many laps of practice anyway. This will be a good car for the race."
Qualifying Times
1. (01) Max Papis, Scott Pruett, DP, CompUSA Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, 00:56.005
2. (02) Luis Diaz, Jimmy Morales, DP, CompUSA Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, 00:56.452
3. (6) Oswaldo Negri Jr, Burt Frisselle, DP, Michael Shank Racing Lexus Doran, 00:57.038
4. (10) Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, DP, SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley, 00:57.065
5. (58) Darren Law, David Donohue, DP, Red Bull Brumos Goodyear Kendall Porsche Fabcar, 00:57.567
6. (81) Cort Wagner, Kelly Collins, DP, Rx.com/ G&W Motorsports BMW Doran, 00:57.791
7. (4) Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Butch Leitzinger, David Brule Sr, DP, Howard Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford, 00:57.945
8. (09) Stephan Gregoire, Doug Goad, DP, Spirit of Daytona Racing Pontiac Crawford, 00:58.234
9. (2) Milka Duno, Andy Wallace, DP, CITGO Howard Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford, 00:58.331
10. (7) Shane Lewis, Vic Rice, DP, Southard Motorsports BMW Fabcar, 00:58.401
11. (39) Chris Hall, Larry Huang, DP, Silverstone Racing Services Pontiac Crawford, 00:59.059
12. (80) Hugo Guenette, Steve Marshall, DP, G&W Motorsports BMW Picchio, 00:59.307
13. (59) JC France, Hurley Haywood, DP, Brumos Goodyear Kendall Porsche Fabcar, 00:59.347
14. (54) Forest Barber, Terry Borcheller, DP, Kodak - Bell Motorsports Pontiac Doran, 00:59.846
15. (5) Joe Pruskowski, Justin Pruskowski, DP, Essex Racing Ford Multimatic, 01:00.219
16. (27) Fredy Lienhard Sr, Didier Theys, DP, Doran Lista Racing Lexus Doran, 01:00.341
17. (70) Selby Wellman, Sylvain Tremblay, DP, SpeedSource Ford Multimatic, 01:00.650
18. (3) John Lloyd, Darius Grala, DP, Cegwa Sport Lexus Fabcar, 01:01.384
19. (21) Bill Auberlen, Boris Said, GT, Prototype Technology Group BMW M3, 01:01.639
20. (45) Gunnar Jeannette, Kyle Petty, GT, Gunnar Racing Porsche GT3 RS, 01:01.686
21. (33) Joao Barbosa, Emil Assentato, Stephen Earle, GT, Scuderia Ferrari of Washington Maserati GT, 01:01.801
22. (22) Justin Marks, Joey Hand, GT, Prototype Technology Group BMW M3, 01:02.077
23. (67) Kevin Buckler, Liz Halliday, GT, The Racers Group Porsche GT3 RS, 01:02.362
24. (06) Chuck Hemmingson, Steve Lisa, GT, ICY/ SL Motorsports Corvette, 01:02.865
25. (66) RJ Valentine, Ian James, Chris Gleason, GT, The Racers Group Porsche GT3 RS, 01:03.464
26. (16) Craig Stanton, David Murry, SGS, AASCO Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:03.555
27. (71) Greg Wilkins, Dave Lacey, SGS, Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:04.384
28. (62) Pete Halsmer, John Schmitt, GT, Honda of America Racing Team Acura NSX, 01:04.430
29. (38) Marc Bunting, Andy Lally, SGS, TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:04.539
30. (36) Michael Levitas, Randy Pobst, SGS, TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:04.548
31. (91) Robert Julien, Jean-Francois Dumoulin, SGS, Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:04.612
32. (37) Bill Adam, John Littlechild, SGS, TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:04.809
33. (35) Dan Kennedy, Tom Jermoluk, SGS, Scuderia Ferrari of Washington Ferrari 360 Challenge, 01:05.784
34. (44) Joe Policastro, Jay Policastro, Mike Fitzgerald, GT, Orbit Racing Porsche GT3 RS, 01:05.927
35. (04) Gene Sigal, Dennis Puddester, SGS, Grease Monkey Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:06.235
36. (41) Joe Nonnamaker, Will Nonnamaker, SGS, Orison-Planet Earth Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:06.441
37. (47) Bob Ward, Michael Baughman, SGS, Michael Baughman Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:07.013
38. (46) Gary St Amour, Mike Yeakle, SGS, Michael Baughman Racing Corvette, 01:09.687
39. (42) Mae Van Wijk, Wayne Nonnamaker, SGS, Orison-Planet Earth Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup, 01:11.836
40. (9) Paul Mears Jr, Mike Borkowski, DP, Mears Motorcoach/ SpeedSource Ford Multimatic, no time.
41. (57) Chip Vance, John Stevenson, GT, Stevenson Motorsports/ Auto Assets Porsche GT3 R, no time.
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