Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Daytona Prototype (DP) drove to the pole for tomorrow’s running of the Porsche 250 At Barber Motorsport Park. For Pontiac it is the tenth pole in as many races in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve.
The GAINSCO team logged their seventh pole position on the season and sixth straight. The Texas based team is red hot, having won four times so far this season. Fogarty put in a time of 1:22.283 to head the DP field. Fogarty will start the two-hour-and-forty-five minute race and then hand-over to co-driver Alex Gurney.
“We have a lot of confidence right now in the car,” Fogarty said. “I was able to go out and the crew found me a gap in traffic so I could lay down a fast time early. It is always an advantage to start up front, especially without the GT cars in the race. The Pontiac power is getting us around here really fast. It is hard to pass in DP and this track layout makes it extra tough. Our crew did an excellent job, led by team engineer Kyle Brannan.”
The new team pairing of Nic Jonsson and Colin Braun has paid dividends for the Krohn Racing team. Jonsson clocked a time of 1:22.795 in the No. 75 Krohn Pontiac, good for third place on the grid. The team decided to shuffle the driver lineup for the remainder of the season, putting Max Papis together with fellow tall driver Tracy Krohn.
“We had a great car all weekend,” Jonsson said. “We tested here a month ago and we unloaded with a pretty good baseline setup on the car. We have been fastest all weekend, so I am a little disappointed not to be on the front row. The car was looser than expected and there was gravel in turn one, so it was not a perfect session. We should have a good race car and I am looking forward to running at the front with Colin tomorrow.”
Another new driver pairing was announced in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley. Regular driver Max Papis welcomed Memo Gidley to the seat this weekend. A border issue with Frenchman Jonathan Cochet forced team owner Wayne Taylor to solicit the help of Gidley. Gidley rewarded the team with a fourth place qualifying effort with a time of 1:22.849.
“Well it has been a great week so far,” Gidley said. “When I got the call I was in Cincinnati and got in my car and drove down here getting in at 4:00 a.m. the other morning. It is nice to be in a competitive front running car. I am still getting used to the nuances of the car and the team, so I have some more speed left. Max and I are giving just about the same feedback, so we like the cars setup.”
Jim Mathews in the No. 91 Mathews-Riley Pontiac will start from the eighth row based on his time of 1:24.924. Mathews will hand over to Belgian Marc Goosens.
“We had a better run, but not as good as I hoped,” Mathews said. “There was not as big of a time improvement on new tires as we would have thought. I was looking to do a low 1:24.8, but didn’t quite get there. The track doesn’t have a lot of grip and we have been adjusting on the car, but I think we need a little more. We will be up there tomorrow.”
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