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Taylor Scampers To Third Consecutive Rolex Series Pole

Elkhart Lake, Wis. – Ricky Taylor flawlessly traversed the challenging 4.048-mile Road America road course at a speed of 120.387 miles per hour to win the pole position for Saturday’s Rolex Sports Car Series 250 Driven by VISIT FLORIDA. Driving the meticulously prepared SunTrust Racing Chevrolet Dallara, Taylor earned his third consecutive series pole to top the 11-car Daytona Prototype field.

The second-generation driver now has five career poles to go along with two consecutive series victories.

Max Angelelli co-drives with Taylor.

“For Wednesday’s test, we lost a day when we had to change engines, so we started the weekend a day behind,” Taylor said. “And Thursday it rained most of the day, although we got to run a little late in the day. Today we took a swing at it, and the car was really good.

“When I heard that Jon (Fogarty) had done a quick lap, it really took the wind out of my sails. But my car was really good and when I saw the lap time on the dash, I was really shocked.”

Fogarty put the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Riley on the outside of the front row with a speed of 120.234 mph.

Said the Oregonian, “I was really pleased with the car. It was the best the car has felt in 2011. We had an opportunity to test at Watkins Glen, and that has helped us a lot. We haven’t had a lot of running up to this point, but we were able to carry it to Road America, which is one of my favorite tracks in America. The car was very well balanced, and I got the most out of the tires. We just missed the pole by a little bit, and Ricky (Taylor) did a good job.”

Alex Gurney shares the driving duties with Fogarty.

Memo Rojas qualified the Chip Ganassi Racing TELMEX BMW Riley third quickest at 119.859 mph. Veteran driver Scott Pruett co-drives with Rojas.

Fourth fastest was Burt Frisselle at 119.070 mph in the AIM Autosport BMW Riley. Mark Wilkins is the co-driver.

John Pew pushed the Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley to the fifth fastest speed with David Donohue sixth in the Action Express Racing Porsche Riley.

In GT qualifications, Wayne Nonnamaker pulled off a last-lap flyer to cop the pole in the Team Sahlen’s Mazda RX-8 with a speed of 108.205 miles per hour. For the Ohio driver, he scored his first GT pole and the second in the series, having done so in the SGS class at Daytona seven years ago.

Team Sahlen’s scored its initial pole position.

“We knew we had a good car, but we were surprised with the way we ended up,” Nonnamaker said. “This is a fun track, and it was difficult to get re-accustomed to it due to the (inclement) weather. Also, we have a new driver on board (John Edwards), and he has gotten a lot of experience in Mazda’s ladder series. And he is mature beyond his years.”

Jan Magnusson had the second fastest speed, 117.729 mph, in the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R. “We had a clean lap, and the car was much better than it had been in practice,” the Danish driver said. He also expressed frustration with the weight and restrictor changes mandated to his car by series officials.

Andrew Davis raced to the third fastest speed with a run of 117.722 mph in the Brumos Racing Porsche GT3 Cup entry.

Sixteen GT cars took a timed run.

SPEED will telecast Saturday’s two-hour race live at 11 a.m. CT.

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