Event Features
Rolex 24 Qualifying Report
By Text: Jim Sykes
Jan 25, 2007, 22:51

With a new track record, Alex Gurney put the number 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley on the Daytona Prototype poll for the 45th running of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on Saturday. The qualifying session lasted 15 minutes and had several different drivers at the top position during that time. In the end though, Gurney put the car on the pole with a record time of 1:43.475 (123.220 mph). Jon Fogarty, Jimmy Vasser and Bob Stallings with share the car with Gurney during the 24 Hours.

"This is a big thrill, for me personally and for the team," Gurney said. "There's so many stars in this race, great cars and great drivers, I feel like I've come a long way to be able to be here. I'm happy for the team, who've put a lot of effort into their work to make this pole possible. It would be awesome to follow this up with a win. It is the crown jewel of the series. Qualifying really doesn't matter that much, it's really just for bragging rights, so we'll be happy with it for a day or so but beyond that, we've got to run 24 straight hours before we can win."

Max Angelleli took the second place on the grid with a time of 1:43.480 (123.850 mph) in the Sun Trust Pontiac Riley and sharing the driving duty with Wayne Taylor, Jan Magnussen and Jeff Gordon. Angelleli and Taylor both shared the overall win at the Rolex 24 in 2005.

"It's going to be very nice to start on the front row, absolutely," said Gordon who is starting his first Rolex 24. "The pictures on the posters before next year's race will look so nice! Other than that, the pole in a 24-hour race doesn't mean a lot. If you remember last year, I started last - dead last, and I was in second position when I got out of the car after my first stint. But then we crashed (during the fourth hour) and that was the end of the race for us. We learned a lot from last year that continues to help us in our preparation. Once it starts, it's just a matter of staying on the track, making no mistakes, driving an easy pace and staying on the lead lap until the sun comes up on Sunday. That's when the real racing begins."
Marc Goossens, David Donohue and Patrick Carpentier will round out the top five for this weekends race.

"Everyone keeps saying that it's a 24-hour race and (qualifying is) not important - but I think it is," Goossens said. "You have to be up there from the beginning, especially with the number of cars on track, there are going to be some yellows. You need to be up there constantly and you can't afford to drop back too far. I think it is still important to be in the top-five cars."

In the GT class, Dutchman, Patrick Huisman took the pole with a time of 1:51.800 (114.633 mph) in his Synergy Porsche GT3.

"It was difficult to find a position out there today because there were a lot of cars on the track," said Huisman. "I certainly didn't expect to be this high in the lineup. The first lap was good, but I had a little mistake. In the race, we have to be a little lucky, make sure to stay on the lead lap until morning and then we'll see how it goes."

Wolf Henzler will start from the second position with a time of 1:52.200 (114.226 mph) in his Tafel Racing Porsche GT3. Sylvan Tremblay, Andy Lally and Johnny O’Connell will round out the top five positions in the GT category.

The green flag will drop to start the twice around the clock race at 1:30 eastern time on Saturday and live coverage will start at 1:00 pm on FOX.


Qualifying 1 Results:

Pos No. Class Class Pos. Driver Team Time Speed Sponsors

1 99 DP 1 Alex Gurney Gainsco/ Bob Stallings Racing / Pontiac Riley 1:43.475 123.856 Gainsco Auto Insurance

2 10 DP 2 Max Angelelli SunTrust Racing / Pontiac Riley 1:43.480 123.850 SunTrust

3 91 DP 3 Marc Goossens Lowe's Riley-Matthews Motorsports / Pontiac Riley 1:43.516 123.807 Lowe's

4 58 DP 4 David Donohue Red Bull/ Brumos Porsche / Porsche Riley 1:43.584 123.726 Red Bull/ Brumos Porsche

5 11 DP 5 Patrick Carpentier SAMAX / Pontiac Riley 1:43.959 123.279 CITGO

6 05 DP 6 Bill Auberlen Luggage Express Team Sigalsport BMW / BMW Riley 1:44.011 123.218 Luggage Express/ Sigalsport

7 19 DP 7 Michael Valiante Finlay Motorsports / Ford Crawford 1:44.133 123.073 Z-Line/ Make-A-Wish

8 23 DP 8 Patrick Long Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing / Porsche Crawford 1:44.205 122.988 Ruby Tuesday

9 02 DP 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley 1:44.344 122.825 Target/ TELMEX

10 47 DP 10 Timo Bernhard TruSpeed Motorsports / Porsche Riley 1:44.348 122.820 Querencia Golf Club, Los Cabos/ TruSpeed Motorcars/ Wright Motorsports

11 6 DP 11 AJ Allmendinger Michael Shank Racing / Lexus Riley 1:44.352 122.815 Michael Shank Racing

12 75 DP 12 Max Papis Krohn Racing / Pontiac Riley 1:44.558 122.573 Krohn Racing

13 01 DP 13 Scott Pruett TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley 1:44.674 122.437 TELMEX/ Target

14 39 DP 14 Christian Fittipaldi Cheever Racing / Porsche Crawford 1:44.890 122.185 Crown Royal Special Reserve/ Cheever Racing

15 20 DP 15 Andy Wallace Howard Motorsports / Pontiac Crawford 1:44.910 122.162 Howard Motorsports

16 77 DP 16 Memo Gidley Feeds The Need/ Doran Racing / Ford Doran 1:44.957 122.107 Kodak

17 59 DP 17 Hurley Haywood Brumos Porsche/ Kendall / Porsche Riley 1:45.680 121.272 Brumos Porsche

18 61 DP 18 Mark Wilkins Exchange Traded Gold AIM Autosport / Lexus Riley 1:46.434 120.413 Barrick Gold/ RBC Royal Bank/ Telus' Mike Network/ Peter Munk Cardiac Centre

19 00 DP 19 Tomas Scheckter Vision Racing / Porsche Crawford 1:46.487 120.353 Vision Racing

20 51 DP 20 Eddie Cheever Jr Cheever Racing / Porsche Fabcar 1:47.011 119.763 NetVu Video/ Cheever Racing

21 18 DP 21 Terry Borcheller VICI Racing / Porsche Fabcar 1:47.649 119.054 XM Satellite Radio

22 12 DP 22 Bill Lester RVO Motorsports / Pontiac Riley 1:47.846 118.836 Rock Valley Oil & Chemical Co

23 76 DP 23 Tracy Krohn Krohn Racing / Pontiac Riley 1:50.466 116.018 Krohn Racing

24 81 GT 1 Patrick Huisman Synergy Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:51.800 114.633 EMC Mechanical/ Gamewell Mechanical

25 74 GT 2 Wolf Henzler Tafel Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.199 114.226 Rembrandt Charms

26 70 GT 3 Sylvain Tremblay SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 1:52.222 114.202 Mazda/ Mazdaspeed

27 66 GT 4 Andy Lally TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.237 114.187 iRise/ CRG/ F1 Air/ Maxter/ Rotax/ NFP/ MBA Group/ NETTTS

28 06 GT 5 Johnny O'Connell Banner Racing / Pontiac GXP 1:52.427 113.994 Banner Engineering

29 85 GT 6 Dirk Werner Farnbacher Loles Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.445 113.976 Shoes for Crews/ Flamingo Resort/ RECARO

30 69 GT 7 Emil Assentato SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 1:52.452 113.969 FXDD

31 73 GT 8 Philipp Peter Tafel Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.542 113.877 Red Bull/ The One and Only Resort

32 88 GT 9 Craig Stanton Farnbacher Loles Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.564 113.855 MarquisJet/ Baysaver Technologies/ Quicken Loans

33 17 GT 10 Dave Lacey Doncaster Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.777 113.640 Tim Hortons

34 22 GT 11 Scooter Gabel Alegra Motorsports/ Fiorano Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.790 113.627 todaymd.com/ Gatorade

35 87 GT 12 Gunnar Jeannette Farnbacher Loles Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.800 113.617 RECARO

36 16 DP 24 Rob Dyson Howard Motorsports / Pontiac Crawford 1:52.936 113.480 Thetford/ Norcold

37 84 DP 25 Wally Dallenbach Robinson Racing / Pontiac Riley 1:52.940 113.476 74 Ranch Resort

38 72 GT 13 Robin Liddell Tafel Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.972 113.444 Tafel Racing

39 07 GT 14 Paul Edwards Banner Racing / Pontiac GXP.R 1:52.986 113.430 Banner Engineering

40 86 GT 15 Shawn Price Farnbacher Loles Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.339 113.077 Bowman Racing/ Bell Micro/ Falko Partners/ Savvion/ PopCap Games

41 28 GT 16 Ian Baas At Speed Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.452 112.964 At Speed Motorsports/ 790 The Ticket/ Ian Global Shipping/ Celette

42 64 GT 17 Jim Pace TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.481 112.935 JLowe Racing/SRS/Globus Medical/NMT/CEO Driving Challenge

43 63 GT 18 Richard Grupp Team Spencer Motorsports / Mazda RX-8 1:53.882 112.538 Team Spencer Motorsports

44 57 GT 19 Dominic Cicero II Stevenson Motorsports / Corvette 1:54.111 112.312 Stevenson Automotive

45 27 GT 20 Lonnie Pechnik O'Connell Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:54.170 112.254 Taleo Grill/ General Environmental Management/ X Satelite/Direct TV

46 15 GT 21 Tom Nastasi Blackforest Motorsports / Mustang Cobra GT 1:54.230 112.195 USG Sheetrock/ Ramset Tools/ Guardian Insulation

47 89 GT 22 Barry Ellis Autometrics Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:54.636 111.797 Hop-A-Jet Worldwide Jet Charter/ The Skin Wellness Center/ Gemstar Group

48 14 GT 23 Cory Friedman Autometrics Motorsports / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:54.810 111.628 BL Patch/ MAC Papers/ Lexair

49 65 GT 24 John Peterson TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:55.286 111.167 Thomas Weisel Partners Racing/ Nextbend/ Muffintops Racing/ Driving for Donors/ Skip Barber

50 21 GT 25 Adam Pecorari Matt Connolly Motorsports / BMW M3 1:55.481 110.979 P1 Groupe

51 68 GT 26 Ted Ballou TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:56.063 110.423 Mitchell Global/ Gleason

52 52 GT 27 Luca Drudi Mastercar / Ferrari 360GT 1:56.092 110.395 Baums/ Canaria/ Suomy

53 83 GT 28 David Gaylord Synergy Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:56.450 110.056 Team Seattle

54 67 GT 29 Tom Cloet TRG / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:56.862 109.668 driving.ca/ dose.ca/ Mo's Gold/ Solley Motorsports/ canada.com/ shopping/ working.com/

55 08 GT 30 Keith Goldin Goldin Brothers Racing / Mazda RX-8 1:57.079 109.465 CCM Cellular/ H.A. Racing/ digiTunes

56 46 GT 31 Bryan Collyer Michael Baughman Racing / Corvette 1:58.174 108.450 Global Market, USA/ New York Board of Trade/ Central Florida Council Boy Scouts of America

57 43 GT 32 Wayne Nonnamaker Team Sahlen / Corvette 1:58.682 107.986 HRPworld.com/ GOJO/ Hawk

58 48 GT 33 Michael DeFontes WTF Engineering / Corvette 1:58.864 107.821 Dubler Mohrenkopf/ Huber/ www.Corvettetotal.ch

59 42 GT 34 Michael Auriemma Team Sahlen / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:58.992 107.705 ShopZilla.com/ Trench Shoring/ Bob Brent's Orchard

60 41 GT 35 Jim Michaelian Team Sahlen / Porsche GT3 Cup 2:01.123 105.810 ShopZilla.com/ Trench Shoring/ Bob Brent's Orchard

61 24 GT 36 Mark Montgomery Matt Connolly Motorsports / BMW M3 2:01.140 105.795 P1 Groupe/ BiltBest Windows

62 7 DP 26 Tomas Enge SAMAX / Pontiac Riley 3:04.371 69.512 SAMAX

63 3 DP 27 Shane Lewis Southard Motorsports / Lexus Riley 3:13.002 66.403 Preformed Line Products/ TrueChoice Motorsports

64 60 DP 28 Oswaldo Negri Jr Michael Shank Racing / Lexus Riley No Time --- Michael Shank Racing/ Fresh From Florida/ The Fresh From Florida Lexus Riley

65 29 GT 37 Puleo/ Kennedy/ Thompson Extreme Motorsports Group / Nissan 350Z No Time --- Extreme Motorsports Group

66 30 GT 38 Aschenbach/ Lofton/ Smith/ Pavan Racers Edge Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R No Time --- Pontiac/ Maxwell Paper Products

67 35 GT 39 Constantine/ Borkowski/ Murry/ Prewitt Playboy Racing/ Unitech / Porsche GT3 Cup No Time --- Playboy/ Vonage

68 45 GT 40 Wilson/ Lewis/ Sellers/ Hand Howard Motorsports / Infiniti G35 No Time --- eautomall.com

69 49 GT 41 Sahlen/ Nonnamaker/ Nonnamaker/ Nonnamaker Team Sahlen / Corvette No Time --- HRPworld.com/ GOJO/ Hawk

70 82 GT 42 Kitch Jr/ Pennington/ Pallis/ Bawcutt Synergy Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup No Time --- Team Seattle

71 97 GT 43 Rice/ Riggins/ Stevenson/ Trenery/ Gigliotti Stevenson Motorsports / Corvette No Time --- Stevenson Automotive

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