23.08.2003  FIRST BLOOD TO THE CORVETTES AFTER QUALIFYING AT ROAD ALTLANTA

Qualifying honours went to the Corvettes in the GTS battle with the Prodrive Ferrari's. British driver Oliver Gavin's 2:01.969 was fractions faster than his Chevrolet team mate. Just over two tenths back was Peter Kox, fastest of the two Ferrari 550 Maranellos, while Jan Magnussen was just behind him. With less than half a second covering the top four, the Road America 500 promises to see hostilities resumed in GTS.

It is new track yet again for Tomas Enge and Peter Kox to learn, and a welcome chance for Brabham and Magnussen to re-visit one of their favourite tracks. After the first 90 minutes of opening practice, the Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranellos found themselves holding 2nd and 3rd positions in class, with Enge’s time of 2:5.034 having been set on old tyres. 

George Howard-Chappell, Team Principal, acknowledged the competition was going to be very close over the weekend. The team tried a number of different options with regard to set up and balance of the car, and made a whole raft of changes overnight for assessment in the morning's practice hour.
 
ROAD AMERICA 500: FINAL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Pos Class Pos Car No. Class Drivers Best Time Speed In Lap Diff No. Laps Make
1 1 1 LMP900/GTP Biela / Werner 1:52.265 129.807 5 -.--- 8 Audi R8
2 1 16 LMP675 Weaver / Leitzinger 1:52.442 129.603 7 0.177 8 Lola EX257/AER
3 2 38 LMP900/GTP Herbert / Lehto 1:52.472 129.568 4 0.207 6 Audi R8
4 2 37 LMP675 Jon Field / Dayton 1:53.471 128.428 5 1.206 10 Lola EX257/AER
5 3 20 LMP675 C. Dyson / Wallace 1:54.349 127.441 5 2.084 8 Lola EX257/AER
6 3 10 LMP900/GTP Beretta / Saelens 1:55.158 126.546 3 2.893 8 Panoz LMP01/EPP
7 4 11 LMP900/GTP Jeannette / Leuenberger 1:56.457 125.135 4 4.192 7 Panoz LMP01/EPP
8 4 56 LMP675 Bucknum / Willman / McMurry 1:58.740 122.729 3 6.475 4 Pilbeam MP91/Willman 6
9 5 30 LMP900/GTP C. Field / Sutherland 1:58.757 122.711 8 6.492 8 R & S MKIII C/Elan
10 6 12 LMP900/GTP Lewis / Drissi /Cosmo 2:00.558 120.878 3 8.293 5 R & S MK III C/Lincoln
11 1 4 GTS Gavin / Collins 2:01.969 119.480 2 9.704 4 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
12 2 3 GTS Fellows / O'Connell 2:02.155 119.298 2 9.890 7 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
13 3 88 GTS Kox / Enge 2:02.203 119.251 7 9.938 7 Ferrari 550 Maranello
14 4 80 GTS Magnussen / Brabham 2:02.395 119.064 5 10.130 7 Ferrari 550 Maranello
15 5 0 GTS Naspetti / Schiattarella 2:05.045 116.540 2 12.780 3 Ferrari 550 Maranello
16 6 2 GTS Konrad / Neuhaus /Kaufmann 2:05.561 116.062 4 13.296 5 Saleen S7R
17 7 17 GTS Weickardt / Ellis /Kapudija 2:09.013 112.956 3 16.748 6 Dodge Viper GTS-R
18 1 23 GT Maassen / Luhr 2:09.124 112.859 2 16.859 4 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
19 5 18 LMP675 Workman / Gue 2:09.389 112.628 4 17.124 6 Lola B2K/40/Nissan
20 2 24 GT Bernhard / Bergmeister 2:09.493 112.537 2 17.228 3 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
21 3 43 GT Baron / Lieb 2:09.764 112.302 4 17.499 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
22 6 64 LMP675 Downing / Katz 2:10.791 111.421 4 18.526 7 Welter Racing/Mazda
23 4 35 GT Kelleners / Lazzaro 2:10.915 111.315 2 18.650 3 Ferrari 360 Modena
24 5 31 GT Mowlem / Petersen /Stanton 2:11.739 110.619 2 19.474 3 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
25 6 60 GT Liddell / Davison 2:11.867 110.511 7 19.602 8 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
26 7 33 GT Pumpelly / Lally /Ivankovich 2:12.122 110.298 3 19.857 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
27 8 79 GT Jackson / Murry 2:12.271 110.174 2 20.006 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
28 9 66 GT Buckler / Wagner 2:12.755 109.772 3 20.490 7 Porsche 911 GT3RS
29 10 63 GT Lewis / Borcheller 2:12.811 109.726 4 20.546 5 Ferrari 360 Modena
30 11 68 GT Gleason / Bunting 2:13.164 109.435 2 20.899 7 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
31 8 71 GTS Belloc / Altenburg 2:13.566 109.106 1 21.301 2 Dodge Viper GTS-R
32 12 67 GT Schrom / Ehret 2:13.579 109.095 3 21.314 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
33 13 28 GT Gregoire / Alexander / Salazar 2:14.047 108.714 4 21.782 6 Ferrari 360 Modena
34 14 42 GT Jay Policastro / Joe Policastro /Hindrey 2:14.360 108.461 2 22.095 3 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
35 15 52 GT Lloyd / Collin 2:14.367 108.455 3 22.102 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
36 16 61 GT Rice / Masarati 2:14.809 108.100 2 22.544 6 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
37 17 29 GT Shearer / Kutemann 2:17.479 106.000 1 25.214 2 Ferrari 360 Modena
The 80 Ferrari 550 Maranello of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham during qualifying at Elkhart Lake for tomorrow's Road America 500