Porsche starts from pole position
Setting the fastest time in
qualifying, Porsche pilot Andrew Davis (USA) secured pole position in
the strongly-supported GT class at the Daytona 24 Hours. For the 50th
anniversary of the long-distance classic in Florida/USA, he shares the
cockpit of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by the winning Brumos Racing
squad with Porsche works driver Marc Lieb (Germany) and American Hurley
Haywood. With five overall wins and six class victories, Haywood is the
most successful pilot in the history of this race. On board the car
with the legendary starting number 59 is Leh Keen (USA) as the fourth
driver.
“The Brumos team managed to get
me out on the track before any of the others. With a field of 46 cars,
this would normally be a huge advantage,” said Andrew Davis, who
relegated Jeff Segal (USA) in the Ferrari to the second grid spot. “But
my first lap wasn’t so good. I actually set the top time towards the
end of the session. My Porsche was prepared perfectly.”
With the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
run by Magnus Racing, Andy Lally (USA) turned the third quickest lap.
His teammates for the race are Porsche works driver Richard Lietz
(Austria), John Potter (USA) as well as René Rast (Germany), the
two-time champion of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Porsche factory
pilot Patrick Long (USA), who shares driving duties with his works
driver colleague Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) as well as Seth Neiman
(USA) and Mike Rockenfeller (Switzerland) in Flying Lizard Racing’s
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, posted the fourth quickest time.
Seventh fastest was Porsche works driver Marco Holzer (Germany). “We
changed a couple of things on the car before the qualifying and that
paid off,” said the teammate of Emmanuel Collard (France), Butch
Leitzinger (USA) and Cooper MacNeil (USA). “I had to overtake two cars
during my fastest lap and that cost several tenths of seconds. Still,
we have a good starting position for the race. We’ve worked very hard
on the car following our tests and I’m certain that we’ll do well over
the distance.”
The 24 hour race starts on
Saturday at 15.30 hours local time (21.30 hrs CET).
Result GT Qualifying
1. Andrew Davis (USA), Porsche
911 GT3 Cup, 1:49.342 minutes
2. Jeff Segal (USA), Ferrari
458, + 0.015 seconds
3. Andy Lally (USA), Porsche
911 GT3 Cup, + 0.046
4. Patrick Long (USA), Porsche
911 GT3 Cup, + 0.208
5. Gianmaria Bruni (I), Ferrari
458, + 0.319
6. Wayne Nonnamaker (USA),
Mazda RX-8, + 0.358
7. Marco Holzer (D), Porsche
911 GT3 Cup, + 0.424
9. Martin Ragginger (A),
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, + 0.549
10. Bryce Miller (USA), Porsche
911 GT3 Cup, + 0.702
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