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2007 NHRA NATIONAL EVENT
SCHEDULE
Listen to Trackside Interviews
with Champions, Drivers and Crew Chiefs
Robert Hight
Hillary Will
Bob Vandergriff
Dave Connolly
Ed Iskenderian
Cory McClenathan
Robert Hight
Jim Yates
Tony Bartone
Hillary Will
Whit Bazemore
Byron Hines
2005 Interviews
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| SunTrust On Pole - Pontiac Pole Steak In Tact |
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| Collins Puts GXP.R On Second Row |
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 Jan Magnussen driving his SunTrust Pontiac Riley
Daytona Prototype drove to the pole position for tomorrow's running of the
Linder Komatsu Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Kelly Collins piloted the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R to a
fourth place qualifying effort in GT.
SunTrust maintained the
perfect pole streak on the 2007 Grand-Am season for Pontiac with Jan
Magnussen delivering a time of 1:14.321 and a speed of 93 mph. The
Dane will be joined on the front row by the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley
of Jon Fogarty, the team's third straight front row staring
position.
"We had a very good morning session and that
carried over to qualifying," Magnussen said. "This is a big market
for SunTrust so the pole is a good start to the weekend. The team
still has a little work to do in the morning practice, but right now we
have a pretty good car. We have two third place finishes so far this
year; we need to turn this into a win tomorrow afternoon."
Jon
Fogarty helped keep the momentum going for the GAINSCO Pontiac team with a
second place qualifying effort. The team is still riding high from
their first ever win at Mexico City three weeks ago.
"The
team is riding on the momentum from our win in the last race," Fogarty
said. "We had limited track time yesterday due to the rain and cars
going off in practice. The car has really good speed through NASCAR
three and four and it also transitions well coming off of the bank into
turn one. The weather should be about the same for the race tomorrow
as it was today, so I hope our car will be this good come race
time."
Colin Braun took the controls of the No. 75 Krohn Racing
Pontiac Riley for the qualifier. The 18-year old Texan could not
backup his pole run from Mexico City.
"We were still working
on the setup of the car in qualifying," Braun said. "The limited
running from the rain put us a little behind. The car is not bad, we
need to try a few more adjustments in tomorrow's morning session, but we
are pretty close to having what we need for the race."
The No. 91
Riley-Mathews Pontiac was driven by owner/driver Jim Mathews and will roll
away from the start from the seventh row.
"I developed a push early
on in the session," Mathews explained. "I am not sure if I was over
driving the car or the tires are going away that quickly. The car
overall felt pretty good and I think we are relatively close to having a
fast race setup. We will talk it over, look at the weather and throw
the dice."
In GT, The Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R driven by Kelly
Collins will start from the second row in fourth based on the
Californian's time of 1:21.164.
"We are a second off of the pole,
we need some help to get closer," Collins said. "The tires are
really falling off fast. In qualifying you really have
one-and-a-half laps to get it right, so you have to make it count.
With that in mind there is no conserving, you have run the race pace and
hope everyone else's tires fall off faster than yours. "
In the
companion Banner GXP.R, Boca Raton, Florida resident Tim Lewis Jr. will
start from the sixth row in his No. 06 Pontiac.
"The car was better
than this morning," Lewis said. "I caught traffic on my fast lap and
that cost me a lot of time and then the yellow came out. We have a
good balance on the car and we should be able to realize pretty even tire
wear. It will be key to keep the car under us as long as possible
for the race."
Racers Edge Motorsports have returned with drivers
Lawson Aschenbach and Mark Pavan. Aschenbach qualified the No. 30
GXP.R in 15th for tomorrow's race.
"The team had to change the
motor after this mornings practice," Aschenbach said. "We really
haven't had the opportunity to tune on the car at all yet. The guys
did a great job to get the motor plugged in for qualifying. We
will have to use every minute of practice to improve the handling as there
was a lot of oversteer in qualifying."
The race from
Homestead-Miami Speedway will be televised live on the SPEED Channel
starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on March 24th.
Grand-Am Top Ten Homestead
Daytona Prototype Qualifiers:
1. Taylor, Angelelli,
Magnussen Pontiac Riley 1:14.321
2. Fogarty,
Gurney Pontiac Riley 1:14.509
3.
Bergmeister, Long Porsche
Crawford 1:14.559
4. Braun, Papis Pontiac
Riley 1:14.698
5. Law,
Donohue Porsche Riley 1:14.712
6.
Fittipaldi, Brix Porsche
Fabcar 1:14.982
7. Pruett,
Rojas Lexus Riley 1:15.053
8.
Dyson, Wallace Porsche Crawford 1:15.269
9.
Wilkins, Frisselle Lexus Riley
1:15.753
10. Goeters, Gidley Ford
Doran 1:15.764
Top 10 Grand-Am GT Homestead
Qualifiers:
1. Keen, Farnbacher Porsche
GT3 1:20.376
2. Tremblay, Ham Mazda
RX-8 1:20.439
3. Lux, Henzler Porsche
GT3 1:20.943
4. Edwards, Collins Pontiac
GXP.R 1:21.614
5. Swartztbaugh, Davis Porsche
GT3 1:21.281
6. Werner, Miller Porsche
GT3 1:21.724
7. de Quesada, Dumoulin Porsche
GT3 1:22.034
8. Assentato,
Longhi Mazda 1:22.052
9. Lacey,
Wilkins Porsche GT3 1:22.250
10. Rice,
Riggins Corvette 1:22.442
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12.
Lewis, Reese Pontiac GXP.R 1:22.483
15.
Aschenbach, Pavan Pontiac GXP.R 1:23.387
Pontiac Powered
Grand-Am Teams Entered for Homestead:
#06 GT, Banner Racing, Pontiac
GXP.R, Reese, Lewis
#07 GT, Banner Racing, Pontiac GXP.R, Edwards,
Collins
#10 DP, SunTrust, Angelelli, Magnussen, Taylor
#11 DP,
SAMAX, Duno, Carpentier
#12 DP, RVO Motorsports, Schramm, Lester
#30
GT, Racers Edge Motorsports, Lawson Aschenbach, Mark Pavan
#41 GT, Team
Sahlen GTO, Baughman, Sahlen, Nonnamaker
#75 DP, Krohn Racing,
Braun, Papis
#76 DP, Krohn Racing, Krohn, Jonsson
#91 DP,
Riley-Mathews Motorsports, Mathews, Goosens
#99 DP, GAINSCO/Bob
Stallings Racing, Gurney, Fogarty
The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car
Series is offering satellite race highlights feeds from all 2007 races,
including this Saturday's Linder Industrial Komatsu Grand Prix of Miami
from Homestead-Miami Speedway. The feed will be up Saturday, March
25: 5:45 - 6:00 p.m. ET; Satellite Space: SBS6/02K; Uplink Freq:
14049.5 H; Downlink Freq: 11749.5 V; Bandwidth: 43 MHz;
Data Rate: 41.25; SR Rate: 30; FEC: 3 / 4;
Signal
Standard: Standard Def; Audio: Ch 1 - Stereo Left, Ch 2 - Stereo
Right, Ch 3 - Nats Only; Ch 4 Nats Only. Highlights and
interview package will run repeatedly in the 15-minute window.
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additional information please visit the GM racing media site by clicking
here . |
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The Reinhart
Report
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