19.03.2004 BARRON CONNOR RACING MAKE THE GTS FRONT ROW ON THEIR ALMS DEBUT AFTER QUALIFYING AT SEBRING
JJ
Lehto found enough clear track to set a fast lap and win the overall pole
Thursday for Saturday's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the opening race of the
2004 American Le Mans Series season. Meanwhile, the apparent pole winners in the
other three classes of competition lost their poles due to technical violations
that were discovered in post-qualifying scrutineering.
Qualifying records were shattered in both the GTS and GT classes as the 44-car starting field was set for America's oldest and most prestigious sports car race.
Lehto driving the ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 that he will share with Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, turned a fast lap of 1:48.710 on the 3.7-mile track. His time just nipped the 1:48.821 posted by Allan McNish in the Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx entry that he will share with Frank Biela and Pierre Kaffer. James Weaver qualified third overall and in the LMP1 class in the Dyson Racing Lola-MG that he will share with Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace.
Records fell in the production-based GTS and GT classes, with Ron Fellows gaining sole possession of the ALMS record for the most poles in any class by inheriting the GTS class pole. The driver for Corvette Racing won the 14th ALMS pole of his career when the time posted by apparent pole winner Oliver Gavin was disallowed due to the rear wing endplates on his Corvette being out of compliance.
"It's great to finally get the record all to myself," said Fellows, who had not won a pole since August of 2002 at Trois-Rivieres and had been tied for the series record with Dirk Muller for nearly two years. "I feel bad for the guys on the other Corvette, but you take them any way you can get them."
Fellows' time of 1:57.052 shattered the previous track qualifying record of 1:59.024 that was set in 2003 by Gavin. Meanwhile more drama was playing out in the GTS class as the Carsport America Dodge Viper GTS-R of Jean-Philippe Belloc, Tom Weickardt and Kevin Allen, which had apparently qualified third in class, also had its time disallowed due to running with improper engine restrictors
All this action saw Barron Connor Racing, who are making their ALMS debut with the new Ferrari 575 GTC racers, promoted to the GTS front row.
Mike Hezemans who recorded a 2.01,913 during afternoon, more than four and a half seconds adrift of the factory Corvette, takes up 2nd position for the GTS grid and 14th place overall on the grid.Thomas Biagi, a second and a half further back in the second Barron Connor Ferrari, eventually claimed third place to give the team a dream start to their 2004 racing program.
In GT, Ralf Kelleners, Bobby Lazzaro and Matteo Bobbi, put in a solid performance in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 360 Modena to claim fourth place in class. Their best time of 2:05.929 was just over a second adrift of the much fancied pole winning Alex Job Racing Porsche 911GT3 RSR of
Timo Bernhard, Jorg Bergmeister and Sascha Maassen.| American Le Mans Series,
Round 1: 12 Hours of Sebring - Final Qualifying Positions, 18.03.2004
1. JJ Lehto, Finland; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi
R8(LMP1), 1:48.710, 122.528. |