Penske-Taylor/Toshiba Pontiac Riley 13TH Fastest in Qualifying
January 25, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 23) ¿ The All-Star Penske-Taylor Racing Team of Helio Castroneves, Kurt Busch and Ryan Briscoe posted the 13th-fastest time in this afternoon¿s qualifying session to set the starting field for the start of the 46th annual Rolex 24 Grand-Am race Saturday here at Daytona International Speedway.
The No. 9 Toshiba Pontiac Riley clocked in with a fast lap time of 1:42.257 (125.331 mph) with Castroneves behind the wheel for a nine-lap run. That time fell 1.464 seconds shy of the fastest single lap of the 15-minute session, recorded by Oswaldo Negri Jr. in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing entry (time of 1:40.793/127.152 mph).
Michael Shank Racing dominated the front row as A.J. Almendinger piloted the No. 6 Ford Riley team car to the second-fastest lap (1:40.802/127.140 mph). Marc Goosens qualified the No. 91 Bob Stallings to a surprising third-place effort (1:41.041/126.840 mph), while Max Angelelli was fourth fastest in the No. 10 ¿teammate¿ car to the Castroneves/Busch/Briscoe entry. Angelelli¿s fastest of his nine laps logged was 1:41.161/126.689 mph.
Mark Wilkins qualified the No. 61 car fifth, while Scott Pruett was sixth in the No. 01 Ganassi Racing entry. David Donohue was seventh, with Ryan Dalziel eighth, Matt Plumb ninth and Scott Dixon (in the No. 02 Ganassi entry) 10th. Alex Gurney, Joey Hand, Castroneves, Mike Rockenfeller and Nic Jonsson rounded out today¿s fastest 15 drivers.
The Penske-Taylor Pontiac Riley had clocked in with the 12th-fastest and sixth-fastest practice laps in the two sessions held prior to qualifying.
"The car just did not respond like it did in the practice session," Castroneves said after completing his run. "The conditions seemed to be much better this morning. It was just too loose during the qualifying session, especially while negotiating the apexes (of the turns)."
"Maybe I was just trying to push it a little too hard out there," Castroneves added. "With about five minutes remaining in the session, we started coming up on the slower cars and the traffic was such that getting in a clean lap was near impossible."
"The 24 hours will make for a long race," offered teammate Busch as he discussed the situation with his teammates. "There¿s no doubt that where you start here on Saturday makes very little difference. That¿s why they call it endurance racing."
Another practice session is on tap here Thursday night with additional practice and the final round of qualifying on the schedule for Friday. The 46th Rolex 24 Grand-Am race has a 1:30 p.m. EST start on Saturday. SPEED-TV and FOX Sports will combine to offer an unprecedented 17 hours of coverage of the prestigious race.