Corvette décroche finalement la pole position avec la Corvette DP n°90 du Spirit Of Daytona. Audi et Flying Lizard confirme en GTD, tandis que Viper s’invite !
A revolving door in Prototype (P) qualifying Friday on the Detroit Belle Isle street circuit resulted in seven lead changes during a heated 15-minute session. When the door stopped, the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP driven by Richard Westbrook had captured the TOTAL Pole Award for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers.
Those seven changes involved five drivers, with Westbrook assuming the top spot three times. He secured the pole as the session was ending, posting a time of 1 minute, 25.011 seconds/99.517 mph. He’ll co-drive in the one-hour, 40-minute race (12:10 p.m. ET start; 1:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1) with Michael Valiante.
“There was just so much chatter on the radio, you’re P1, now P2, now P1, now P2,” Westbrook said. “I think I did a 21-1 (1:21.10 lap) with three laps to go and I thought that was it, I’m done now. I did a cool- down lap and fortunately they came [back] on the radio and said ‘You’re going to need to do a 25-0 (1:25.0 lap).’
“I just threw all caution to the wind … sometimes on a street circuit you get rewarded or sometimes, it can bite you.”
Memo Rojas, in the No. 01 Telcel Ford EcoBoost/Riley, was the session’s initial leader and stayed atop the chart until midway through the session when he was bumped by Christian Fittipaldi, driver of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Jordan Taylor briefly led the session in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP before a Westbrook-Fittipaldi-Westbrook exchange sequence.
In the session’s final minute, Ryan Dalziel blazed to the top spot, in the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD ARX-03b/Honda of Extreme Speed Motorsports, only to have Westbrook pull off his last-gasp, pole-winning lap.
Dalziel, who will co-drive with Scott Sharp, ended up second-fastest at 1:25.029/99.495 mph. Fittipaldi, who will co-drive with Joao Barbosa, qualified third at 1:25.139/99.367 mph.
– See more at: http://www.imsa.com/articles/westbrook-corvette-dp-detroit-pole?invalidate-cache=1399153499#sthash.TQ0UfmS1.dpuf
Spirit of Daytona s’adjuge donc la pole position au terme d’une séance très serrée. Pas moins de 7 changements de leader ont été relevés au cours des 15 minutes de la séance qualificative. C’est Richard Westbrook qui s’est chargé de décrocher le meilleur temps absolu de la séance dans les dernières secondes des qualifications. Dans les dernières minutes, la hiérarchie des Prototypes a connu son lot de changement avec la 2e position de Ryan Dalziel au volant de la HPD du Extreme Speed Motorsport, puis la 3e place Christian Fittipaldi avec sa Corvette DP de l’Action Express Racing.
Pourtant en forme à l’issue des essais libres, résultat décevant pour les deux Ford-Riley engagés. En effet, Memo Rojas a rapidement vu ses espoirs de pole position réduire à néant au milieu de la séance, quand les Corvette DP, les Honda, et la Morgan sont venues s’intercaler. La première Ford-Riley pointe au 6e rang, celle du Michael Shank Racing. La n°01 du Chip Ganassi prend la 8e place. OAK Racing répond présent en s’adjugeant le 4e chrono.
Spencer Pumpelly confirme en décrochant la pole position en GTD avec l’Audi R8 du Flying Lizard, sa 9e en endurance, à l’issue d’une séance encore très serrée avec pas moins de 10 changements de leader, dont 5 dans les 5 dernières minutes. Ce sont succédés au terme de cette séance, la Porsche n°22 du Alex Job Racing, la Ferrari n°63 de la Scuderia Corsa, puis l’Aston Martin n°007 du TRG AMR et enfin l’Audi n°45 du Flying Lizard.
Les dernières tentatives ont vu l’arrivée en 2e et 3e position de la Viper n°33 où évolue Jeroen Bleekemolen et la Porsche n°73 du Park Place Motorsports avec à son volant : Kévin Estre ! Dempsey Racing ne prend que le 17e temps.
Le classement est à découvrir ici.
One race ago, Pumpelly found himself leading at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, only to run out of fuel on the final lap and finish sixth. He took the first step in rebounding from that heartbreak Friday, earning the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship TOTAL Pole Award in the GT Daytona (GTD) class at Detroit Belle Isle.
Pumpelly drove the No. 45 Venezuela/eSilicon Audi R8 LMS to the pole for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers (12:10 p.m. ET start, 1:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1) in the closing minutes of the 15-minute qualifying session with a time of 1 minute, 32.914 seconds/91.052 mph.
“We had high hopes this weekend, coming here: doing well, getting the pole, winning the race,” said Pumpelly, who co-drives with Nelson Canache Jr. “We just have to get that chip off our shoulder tomorrow and finally come through with, not an almost, but a ‘did.’”
It was the second consecutive pole for Pumpelly and the ninth of his career.
The pole changed hands 10 times throughout the session, including five times over the final five minutes. Leh Keen briefly held the top spot in the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America of Alex Job Racing with five minutes remaining, but quickly lost the position to the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia of Alessandro Balzan.
Lap times continued to drop as the session went on with Pumpelly and TRG-AMR’s James Davison swapping the pole before Pumpelly took it for good with just two minutes left.
Jeroen Bleekemolen made a run at the top spot at the session ended, but fell a mere 0.278 seconds short in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com SRT Viper GT3-R with a lap of 1:33.192/90.780 mph. Kevin Estre – who held the pole briefly in the middle part of the session – qualified third at 1:33.246/90.728 mph in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America.
– See more at: http://www.imsa.com/articles/pumpelly-drives-audi-r8-gt-daytona-pole?invalidate-cache=1399153499#sthash.yNOqDzKL.dpuf
A revolving door in Prototype (P) qualifying Friday on the Detroit Belle Isle street circuit resulted in seven lead changes during a heated 15-minute session. When the door stopped, the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP driven by Richard Westbrook had captured the TOTAL Pole Award for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers.
Those seven changes involved five drivers, with Westbrook assuming the top spot three times. He secured the pole as the session was ending, posting a time of 1 minute, 25.011 seconds/99.517 mph. He’ll co-drive in the one-hour, 40-minute race (12:10 p.m. ET start; 1:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1) with Michael Valiante.
“There was just so much chatter on the radio, you’re P1, now P2, now P1, now P2,” Westbrook said. “I think I did a 21-1 (1:21.10 lap) with three laps to go and I thought that was it, I’m done now. I did a cool- down lap and fortunately they came [back] on the radio and said ‘You’re going to need to do a 25-0 (1:25.0 lap).’
“I just threw all caution to the wind … sometimes on a street circuit you get rewarded or sometimes, it can bite you.”
Memo Rojas, in the No. 01 Telcel Ford EcoBoost/Riley, was the session’s initial leader and stayed atop the chart until midway through the session when he was bumped by Christian Fittipaldi, driver of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Jordan Taylor briefly led the session in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP before a Westbrook-Fittipaldi-Westbrook exchange sequence.
In the session’s final minute, Ryan Dalziel blazed to the top spot, in the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD ARX-03b/Honda of Extreme Speed Motorsports, only to have Westbrook pull off his last-gasp, pole-winning lap.
Dalziel, who will co-drive with Scott Sharp, ended up second-fastest at 1:25.029/99.495 mph. Fittipaldi, who will co-drive with Joao Barbosa, qualified third at 1:25.139/99.367 mph.
– See more at: http://www.imsa.com/articles/westbrook-corvette-dp-detroit-pole?invalidate-cache=1399153499#sthash.TQ0UfmS1.dpuf
A revolving door in Prototype (P) qualifying Friday on the Detroit Belle Isle street circuit resulted in seven lead changes during a heated 15-minute session. When the door stopped, the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP driven by Richard Westbrook had captured the TOTAL Pole Award for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers.
Those seven changes involved five drivers, with Westbrook assuming the top spot three times. He secured the pole as the session was ending, posting a time of 1 minute, 25.011 seconds/99.517 mph. He’ll co-drive in the one-hour, 40-minute race (12:10 p.m. ET start; 1:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1) with Michael Valiante.
“There was just so much chatter on the radio, you’re P1, now P2, now P1, now P2,” Westbrook said. “I think I did a 21-1 (1:21.10 lap) with three laps to go and I thought that was it, I’m done now. I did a cool- down lap and fortunately they came [back] on the radio and said ‘You’re going to need to do a 25-0 (1:25.0 lap).’
“I just threw all caution to the wind … sometimes on a street circuit you get rewarded or sometimes, it can bite you.”
Memo Rojas, in the No. 01 Telcel Ford EcoBoost/Riley, was the session’s initial leader and stayed atop the chart until midway through the session when he was bumped by Christian Fittipaldi, driver of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Jordan Taylor briefly led the session in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP before a Westbrook-Fittipaldi-Westbrook exchange sequence.
In the session’s final minute, Ryan Dalziel blazed to the top spot, in the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD ARX-03b/Honda of Extreme Speed Motorsports, only to have Westbrook pull off his last-gasp, pole-winning lap.
Dalziel, who will co-drive with Scott Sharp, ended up second-fastest at 1:25.029/99.495 mph. Fittipaldi, who will co-drive with Joao Barbosa, qualified third at 1:25.139/99.367 mph.
– See more at: http://www.imsa.com/articles/westbrook-corvette-dp-detroit-pole?invalidate-cache=1399153499#sthash.TQ0UfmS1.dpuf
