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Fogarty Takes Pole Position At Laguna Seca

Monterey, Calif. ? Jon Fogarty captured the pole position for Sunday?s US Sports Car Invitational at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the fifth Daytona Prototype race of the Rolex Sports Car Series season.

The Oregonian?s fastest lap on the 2.239-mile, 11-turn course was completed in 1:20.787 seconds at 99.729 miles per hour. In winning the pole, Fogarty continued his team?s qualification dominance with its fifth consecutive front-row start of the season.

Fogarty and co-driver Alex Gurney pilot the Gainsco/Bob Stallings Pontiac Riley Racing entry.

?It is great to be as quick as we are in qualifying, but we have to be more consistent in our races if we are to contend for the championship,? Fogarty said. ?It will take a lot for us to win the race as the field is so closely bunched. Also, we are going to have to play our race strategy correctly.?

Fogarty was referencing the new Rolex Series rule that mandates one pit stop in the first 45-minutes of a race.

Sharing the front row with Fogarty will be hard-charging Max Angelelli, who drives the SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley fielded by Wayne Taylor.

?It is a pleasure to be on the front row,? said Angelelli, the point leader going into the race. ?We need to win and we will push hard as usual.?
The Italian averaged 99.671 mph for his fast lap.

Patrick Long pushed the Alex Job Porsche Crawford to the third fastest speed with Christian Fittipaldi tucked in behind him in the Cheever Racing Porsche Fabcar.

Scott Pruett?s teammate Memo Rojas qualified fifth fastest and he was trailed by the colorful Max Papis, who co-drives with teenager Colin Braun.

Nineteen Daytona Prototype?s qualified for Sunday?s endurance race. For the second time in 2007, the DP class will run by itself. The GT class races separately on Saturday afternoon.

Nick Ham led the 22-car GT field with a speed of 90.473 mph in a SpeedSource Mazda RX-8.

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