Taylor And Auberlen Record-Breakers In TUDOR Qualifications At Long Beach

Long Beach, Calif. – Ricky Taylor and Bill Auberlen were the top qualifiers and record breakers, too, in TUDOR United SportsCar Championship time trials on the 1.968-mile street course at Long Beach on Friday afternoon.

The qualifications set the starting field for Saturday’s 100-minute Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach, the third TUDOR Championship event in 2015.

In the fastest Prototype class, Taylor and perennial champion Scott Pruett swapped places during the 15-minute session with Taylor having the last say with a time of 1:14.790 seconds. For Taylor, he gained his first TUDOR championship pole to go along with 10 in the old Grand-Am Series.

“It is really nice to get the pole in Long Beach,” the mild-mannered driver said. “This is such a special event – a cool atmosphere. It has been a long time since I have had a pole. The car just kept getting better and better in qualifying. It was a tough run. You never want to gamble but all of a sudden Pruett went faster. Toward the end, I was able to match him and then go quicker. It was really cool to battle with someone like Pruett.”

Two classes are participating: the sleek Prototypes (10) and the high-tech GTLMs (8) or a field of 18.

In the GTLM class, a pair of BMW Z4 GTEs of BMW Team RLL led the way with Auberlen and John Edwards on top with the former setting a track record along the way.

Auberlen came out on top with a time of 1 minute 17.268 seconds, and he became the 14^th different pole winner in 14 TUDOR Championship races.

Said the pole winner, “It feels amazing. Last year I was on the pole until the end, and then this year everything was great until our sister car kept knocking on the door. I love this place; it is my home track. This is my crown jewel – not Daytona or Sebring. We now have to guide it through those concrete barriers and try to put it on top step of podium tomorrow.”

Dirk Werner co-drives with Auberlen and Lucas Luhr teams with Edwards.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer were third fastest in the Risi Competizione Ferrari F4548 Italia.

The top six qualifiers broke the track record.