WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Driver Bill Auberlen qualified the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche-powered Riley seventh for tomorrow’s Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen International.
Auberlen set his fastest time of 1:06.456 (132.719 mph) towards the end of the 15-minute qualifying session. And, even though Auberlen will start from row four, he knows the team will need to make some improvements during tonight’s practice in order to make the car better for tomorrow night’s race.
“In terms of setup, I think we are a little behind the eight ball here,” Auberlen said following qualifying. “Many of the other teams tested here the Monday following the six-hour race and we did not have this car then. So, they are a little further along than we are. But, we’re chipping away at it. Now we’ll go into night practice and try to make our big gains. We know what all the problems are, so I have no doubt we’ll be there [closer to the right setup after practice].”
“People have won from seventh. We’ve run up front in every race [with this car]. There is no reason to believe that we can’t do it here. Our pit stops will have to be faster than everyone else. We will need to be patient. We also need to be smart and let the other guys bang it out. And, every time somebody gets pushed somewhere, we’ll need to capitalize on it. The GT cars are not here so you can’t use them as a pick. For sure, this track is the most difficult track to pass on.”
The Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team struggled a bit during this afternoon’s practice sessions, which may have cost them a few spots in qualifying.
“We certainly did not qualify where we wanted to,” Team Owner Alex Job said. “We should have qualified better than P7. Unfortunately, we had a bad set of tires during today’s practice sessions, while continuing to make adjustments to the car. When we put a new set on late in the second session, the problems went away. But, that put us behind on the setup for qualifying. Heading into night practice, we will continue to improve the car and I’m confident that Bill and Joey can drive this car to the front tomorrow night just like they’ve done in the last two races.”
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