News

MID-OHIO QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS PORSCHE/ACURA RIVALRY; No. 7 RS SPYDER TO START ON LMP2 SECOND ROW

LEXINGTON, Ohio (July 18, 2008) – With the top seven qualifying positions overall separated by less than one second, the No. 7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder of Timo Bernhard (Germany) and  Romain Dumas (France) qualified third overall and third in the LMP2 class for tomorrow’s American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, the Acura Sports Car Challenge.

The two hour and 45 minute race will take the green flag on Saturday, July 19, at 2:10 p.m. EDT, will be broadcast live on American Le Mans Radio, available at www.americanlemans.com, which also has live timing and scoring.  The event will be telecast on a delayed basis on NBC-TV at noon EDT on Sunday, July 20.  This is a recent change announced earlier in the week by NBC, which will also extend its usual two-hour broadcast to two hours, 30 minutes.

Bernhard, who qualified the car, realized how close the qualifying session was and thought the team had a good car for tomorrow’s event. “To be less than three-tenths of a second off the pole is a good position for us, and the car feels good,” said Bernhard.  “Romain and I have won this race two years in a row, and we both feel that we can get the most from the RS Spyder at this track.”  

The de Ferran/Pagenaud Acura and the Brabham/Sharp Acura are just ahead the Bernhard/Dumas Porsche, with the Matos/Montagny Acura four.  The No. 6 Penske Porsche of Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) is starting eighth overall (sixth in class).

Acura Sports Car Challenge
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course / 2.258 miles
July 17-19, 2008 / Lexington, Ohio

ALMS Qualifying

Pos/Class Pos/Car No/Driver/Best Time/Speed/in Lap/Diff/Make
1 1 66 P2 de Ferran/Pagenaud 1:07.969 † 119.596 12 -.--- 13 Acura ARX-01B
2 2 9 P2 Brabham/Sharp 1:08.193 119.203 7 0.224 14 Acura ARX-01B
3 3 7 P2 Dumas/Bernhard 1:08.238 119.124 7 0.269 11 Porsche RS Spyder
4 4 26 P2 Matos/Montagny 1:08.320 118.981 10 0.351 13 Acura ARX-01B
5 1 2 P1 Luhr/Werner 1:08.357 † 118.917 11 0.388 14 Audi R10 / TDI
6 5 15 P2 Fernandez/Diaz 1:08.507 118.656 14 0.538 16 Acura ARX-01B
7 2 1 P1 Capello/Pirro 1:08.960 117.877 5 0.991 8 Audi R10 / TDI
8 6 6 P2 Maassen/Long 1:09.614 116.770 11 1.645 12 Porsche RS Spyder
9 7 16 P2 Smith/Dyson 1:09.912 116.272 4 1.943 10 Porsche RS Spyder
10 8 20 P2 Franchitti/Leitzinger 1:10.029 116.078 13 2.060 15 Porsche RS Spyder
11 3 37 P1 J.Field/C.Field/Berry 1:11.053 114.405 7 3.084 10 Lola B06/10
12 4 30 P1 Lewis/Faulkner 1:11.156 114.239 10 3.187 15 Lola B06/10
13 5 12 P1 McMurry/Willman 1:16.316 106.515 8 8.347 12 Creation CA07-002
14 1 3 GT1 O'Connell/Magnussen 1:17.900 104.349 3 9.931 6 Chevrolet Corvette C6R
15 2 4 GT1 Beretta/Gavin 1:18.329 103.778 4 10.360 6 Chevrolet Corvette C6R
16 1 62 GT2 Melo/Salo 1:20.025 101.578 8 12.056 9 Ferrari 430 Berlinetta GT
17 2 87 GT2 Werner/Westbrook 1:20.199 101.358 3 12.230 9 Porsche 911 RSR
18 3 45 GT2 Bergmeister/Henzler 1:20.226 101.324 6 12.257 9 Porsche 911 RSR
19 4 71 GT2 Mueller/Farnbacher 1:20.324 101.200 5 12.355 10 Ferrari 430 Berlinetta GT
20 5 46 GT2 van Overbeek/Pilet 1:20.703 100.725 4 12.734 12 Porsche 911 RSR
21 6 61 GT2 Brix/Friesacher 1:20.844 100.549 4 12.875 7 Ferrari 430 Berlinetta GT
22 7 44 GT2 Law/Neiman 1:21.072 100.266 4 13.103 7 Porsche 911 RSR
23 8 21 GT2 Sutherland/Milner 1:22.133 98.971 7 14.164 7 Panoz Esperante
24 9 40 GT2 D.Robertson/A.Robertson/Murry 1:23.139 97.774 5 15.170 9 Doran Ford GT-R
25 10 18 GT2 F.Pastorelli/N.Pastorelli 1:23.388 97.482 4 15.419 6 Porsche 911 RSR
26 11 54 GT2 Lazzaro/Pappas 1:23.729 97.085 4 15.760 11 Doran Ford GT-R
27 12 73 GT2 Figge/Tafel 1:24.047 96.717 4 16.078 8 Ferrari F430GT
28 13 11 GT2 Feinberg/Hall 1:24.957 95.681 5 16.988 13 Dodge Viper
29 14 007 GT2 Drayson/Cocker -.--- --- 0 0 Aston Martin Vantage G
30 9 8 P2 Devlin/Bonilla -.--- --- 0 0 Lola B07 46 Mazda

Fastest Drivers:
GT1 Johnny O'Connell
GT2 Jaime Melo
P1 Marco Werner
P2 Gil de Ferran
† New qualifying lap record
Friday, July 18, 2008 6:33 PM Copyright IMSA Timing