25.07.2004 The Krohn Barbour Racing team did well to repair their Lamborghinis and qualify respectably after the cars collided during the morning practice: ALMS qualifying report AND times from Portland

Andy Wallace yesterday won his first American Le Mans Series pole position since 1999 when he drove the Dyson Racing Lola EX257-AER/MG onto the top slot for today's Grand Prix of Portland at the Portland International Raceway.

The race marks the return of the American Le Mans Series to the circuit for the first time since 2001.

Wallace will co-drive with Chris Dyson as the two seek their first win of the 2004 season. His lap time of 1:04.750 beat the Dyson team car of James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger, which ran a lap of 1:04.823, as well as the ADT Champion Audi R8 of JJ Lehto and Marco Werner.

Lehto and Werner have won three consecutive ALMS races this season and can set a series record of four straight with a win in the two-hour, 45-minute timed event on the 1.944-mile track.

Olivier Beretta won his second pole of the season in the GTS class with a track record time of 1:09.981 in the Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C5-R that he will share with Oliver Gavin. A two-time GTS class winner at Portland in his days with the factory Dodge Viper team, Beretta used his knowledge of the track to lead the way in the production-based class.

"I always like coming to Portland," said the Monaco resident. "The weather the time is a bit too hot, but I think it's supposed to change Sunday. We have been making a lot of progress and the Michelins are working great. I think it was easy for me to remember the track since last time I was here too.

The other Corvette of Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows was second with the ACEMCO Saleen S7R of Johnny Mowlem and Terry Borcheller third. Fellows and O'Connell have won the GTS class in three of the four ALMS races held this season.

"This was our closest qualifying margin to the Corvette, but we are still behind them in third position," said Jeff Giangrande, ACEMCO team owner. "Our race strategy will be to take care of the tires and race from third. I am hoping we can stay close enough to the GM cars to pressure them into a mistake."

The Krohn-Barbour Racing outfit did well to bounce back after their two Lamborghini Murcielagos hit each other during the morning practice sessions.

Tracy Krohn posted a best time of 1min 16.505secs during afternoon qualifying to take fifth place in the GTS class in the hastily repaired no 5 car, while David Brabham's co-driver, Peter Kox, recorded a lap of 1min 12.228secs in the also quickly fixed no 6 car, a time good enough for fourth in class and a top ten place overall. This was despite both drivers having to guess which Pirelli tyres would best suit the cars because of lack of track time.

The GTS field shrunk when the Carsports America team withdrew its Dodge Viper GTS-R. Team owner and lead driver Tom Weickardt, had to return to his home in Wisconsin to tend to some unexpected family business and rather than try to recruit another driver, the team instead elected to pull out.

The problems for the Krohn-Barbour team had started eighteen minutes into the morning practice session when Tracy Krohn spun the Lamborghini as he entered the festival turns. David Brabham, in the other car, hit the brakes trying to avoid him and slid into the stopped car. Both drivers were unhurt, but both cars were damaged, the no 5 coming off worse.

As the two Italian supercars were returned to the pits, David Brabham commented: "Tracy spun ahead of me. I think a couple of other cars had stopped a bit shorter than he thought they did. His rears locked up and he started spinning.

"I saw it and the same thing happened to me, my rears locked up and I started to come around. It all happened so fast, it was just one of those things, unavoidable. It's too early to say if the damage is fixable, but we hope so."

There were those who doubted the cars would be repaired in time for either the one-hour practice or 20-minute qualifying sessions that followed, but not team manager Dick Barbour. "Just watch my guys," he said, as the cars were brought to the garage for repairs, "We'll have them back out there. Never say die."

In GT, the Risi Competizione Ferrari 360 Modena of Ralf Kelleners and Anthony Lazzaro had a steady session to line up ninth in class, a second and a half adrift of the pole winning Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3-RSR of Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb.