GAINSCO Corvette cops pole for Rolex24 at Daytona

No. 99 pole winning GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette takes Prototype pole.  [Joe Jennings Photo]

Daytona Beach, FL – Alex Gurney laid down a perfect lap at the Daytona International Speedway to claim his second Rolex24 pole and did so for the seventh time in North American sports-car racing.  The Californian drove he GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette and toured the 3.56-mile road course in a time of 1:38.270 seconds or 130.416 miles per hour.

He led the 18 car Prototype (P) class field.

“We are really happy and excited with it after a difficult off-season (funding being the issue),” Gurney said.  “Once we got the go ahead, the team worked right through Christmas and New Year’s without any time off.  This means a lot to us and our team.  We are not set for the season, so it is our time to shine.  It feels good to have pulled it off.”

Gurney expressed surprise to have outdone the ALMS P2 cars.

Asked how he would feel about winning the same race won by his father, Dan Gurney, he added, “It would be the biggest thing in my career.   And the last time we had an all-American driver team was when my dad won it.”

Gurney’s co-drivers are Jon Fogarty, Memo Gidley and Darren Law.

In winning the overall pole, Gurney beat out the Spirit of Daytona Corvette of Richard Westbrook and the Starworks Motorsports Dinan of Scott Mayer.

The pair of Chip Ganassi Racing Fords ended up sixth and ninth on the speed charts.

In the Protoype Challenge (PC) class, Colin Braun forged to the front when it counted to claim his 10^th North American sports car pole.  Said the popular driver, “It is great to be on the pole at Daytona, but when the green flag drops, everyone forgets who was on the pole, so we will enjoy it as long as we can.  For us, we worked on our car the whole time in practice, and we pulled it out of the bag at the end.”

Braun’s time was 1:41.777 seconds, and the speed was 125.922 mph.

Teaming with Braun for the race will be Jon Bennett, James Gue and Mark Wilkins.          Second in class was Renger van der Zande of the Netherlands.

Heading the 11-team GT LeMans (GTLM) class was the SRT Viper GTS-R with Belgium’s Marc Goosens behind the wheel.  His best lap was done in 1:44.506 seconds at a speed of 122.634 mph.

Joining Goosens for the Rolex24 will be Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet.

“It helps to be on the pole at Daytona but nor the most important thing,” Goosens stated.  “After an absence of several years for Viper, it is pretty good to be on pole but good for our team car.  For us, it is great to be at this level after a year and a half of hard work.  The pole is a perfect motivation for our team.”

Taking second in the GTLM class was a sparkling new Porsche 911 RSR with Britain’s Nick Tandy behind the wheel.

The second Viper of Jonathan Bomarito, Robert Bell and Kuno Wittmer took third-fastest honors.

One of two Corvettes qualified fourth.

In the GT Daytona class (GTD), Christopher Haase from Germany out-maneuvered 27 other cars to take fast-qualifying honors.  He drives an Audi R8 LMS and his co-drivers are Bryce Miller, Matthew Bell and Rene Rast.

His time and speed were 1:46.973 seconds and 119.806 mph, respectively.

Said the GTD pole winner, “I just concentrated on myself in qualifying, and that was the key to the pole.  It is a great feeling,” Haase said.

Four similar Audi R8s also qualified.

Second in class was the Toni Vilander in one of eight Ferrari 458 Italia entries.  Vilander co-drives with Jeff Westphal, Alessandro Balzan and Lorenzo Case.

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