Qualifying Times
1. Weaver/Leitzinger Dyson Lola B06/10 AER 1m04.459s
2. Dumas/Bernhard Penske Porsche Spyder 1m04.481s
3. Maassen/Luhr Penske Porsche Spyder 1m05.245s
4. Capello/McNish Champion Audi R8 1m05.382s
5. McMurry/Willman Autocon Lola B01/60 AER 1m06.629s
6. Fellows/O'Connell GM Corvette C5 1m08.035s
7. Beretta/ Gavin GM Corvette C5 1m08.090s
8. Halliday/Field Intersport Lola B05/40 AER 1m08.399s
9. Turner/Enge Aston Martin DBR9 1m08.427s
10. Sarrazin/Lamy Aston Martin DBR9 1m08.629s
20. Devlin/Van Der Steur VDS Lola B2K/40 1m12.984s
- Dyson/Smith Dyson Lola B06/10 AER No Time
James Weaver put the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B06/10 on the pole for the American Le Mans Series' last night to give the new Lola LMP1 car (B06/10) its first pole position in just its second event in the ALMS.
Weaver's time of 1:04.459 around the 1.69-mile, nine-turn street circuit was his 14th career pole in the Series. He will start from the pole with teammate Butch Leitzinger for Friday's two-hour, 45-minute race, the first for the American Le Mans Series on a street circuit since 2003.
Weaver lapped the AER powered Lola 0.022 seconds ahead of Romain Dumas in the No. 7 Penske Racing Porsche, the fastest of the LMP2 cars.
Dyson Racing debuted its new Lola at Sebring in March, and Weaver said the progress has been amazing. He's confident the results
will show come race day, today."We are still getting there but when we do everyone had better watch out because this car will absolutely fly," enthused Weaver. "The potential is enormous and it is a credit to Lola and AER.There was still more time in the car which is very encouraging. I hope we can remain reliable throughout the race but for sure our big rivals here, on pace that is, are the Porsches. The Audi could be quite stealthy in the race too, so we have a lot of work to do."
Weaver was just under a second faster than the next quickest LMP1 entry, the Audi R8 of Dindo Capello and Allan McNish. The two Sebring winners will start fourth overall after Capello's 1:05.382 lap. Weaver also had some amusing thoughts on the circuit, saying: "Bumps? That's why you've got an engineer in the pits armed with a hammer to fix it, after all. At the end of the day, they're all equipped with a throttle, aren't they? And you can alter your line. If someone can set up the car to hold it (the speed) a bit longer (over the bumps) they'll have won fair and square, won't they? What I'm really worried about is the long turn (around the Astrodome). It's blind, and 135, 145 miles per hour, isn't it? If some Wally stops on the apex, you could do yourself - and him - serious injury."
Dyson Racing's second entry of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith failed to set a time in the qualifying session after power steering problems in the earlier practice session.
Intersport Racing line up 3rd in the LMP2 class with Liz Halliday setting a time of 1m08.399 in the LolaB05/40. Liz Halliday was
finding the demanding street circuit tough but was determind to find more race pace in her Lola. "Clint started the session for Intersport, but only put in five laps before Liz Halliday did the rest of the session. "There's a huge bump on the curve around the Astrodome - I swear the car jumped a lane over - we're going to softer springs. Katherine Legge (Champcar rookie) told me that Long Beach is pretty smooth compared to here. The new restrictor is probably contributing to the power oversteer we're getting, right now we don't have the grip. I think I'll be qualifying today; that will be something new,"
Autocon had a trouble free qualifying period with their ex Dyson Lola B01/60 machine. Chris McMurry set the time which
was good enough for 5th place on the grid, a time that the team were more than happy with. "We expected to be in the top 6 but to be just 1.3 seconds away from Dindo and Allan is a terrific effort by the team," said McMurry's partner Bryan Willman.
Van Der Steur's Lola B2K/40 lines up in 20th position for this evenings race. They will be hoping to squeeze on to the podium in what is the 150th race start for the B2K/40 design since its inception in 2000. In that time the 'baby prototype' has won 39 races:
B2K/40 Class Wins
2000
Road Atlanta Oberto/Hampton Archangel
Lime Rock Oberto/Hampton Archangel
Mid Ohio Oberto/Hampton Archangel
Le Mans Graham/Maxwell/Wilkins Mutimatic
Daytona Oberto/Hampton Archangel
Road America Snow/Schumacher S&S
Trios Rivieres Oberto/Hampton Archangel
Laguna Seca Snow/Jeanette S&S
Kyalami Dickens/Ekblom SRTS
2001
Daytona Lally/Henderson/Macey/Seldon Archangel
Phoenix Julien/St Jacques Porsche Haus
Monza Oberto/Bjork SRTS
Lime Rock Katz/Durand Archangel
Mid Ohio Lalley/Macey Archangel
Brno Oberto/Bjork SRTS
Road America Devlin/Oberto/Sterenberg Archangel
Trois Riveires Veilleux/Domoulin Porsche Haus
Watkins Glen Devlin/Sterenberg Archangel
Mondello Park Faulkner/Oberto/Bjork SRTS
Nürburgring Oberto/Bjork SRTS
Daytona Kelleners/Lazzaro Rand
2002
Daytona Lazzaro/Kelleners/Rand/Borcheller Rand
Fontana Borcheller/Kelleners Rand
Phoneix Franchitti/Jonsson Rand
Sears Point Devlin/McEntee Archangel
Watkins Glen Borcheller/Lazzaro/Kelleners Rand
Daytona Lazzaro/Nadeau Rand
Watkins Glen Borcheller/Lazzaro Rand
Virginia Borcheller/Lazzaro Rand
Daytona Borcheller/Lazzaro Rand
2003
Daytona Bentley/Kitch/Prukowski/Prukowski Essex
2004
Sebring James/Macaluso/Borkowski Miracle
Le Mans Field/Sutherland/Binnie Intersport
Mid Ohio Field/Liddell Intersport
Lime Rock Field/Liddell Intersport
Sears Point Field/Liddell Intersport
Portland Field/Liddell Intersport
Mosport Field/Liddell Intersport
Road Atlanta Field/Field/Liddell Intersport
