Lime Rock, Conn. – July 23, 2010 – For the first time since the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR teams put their cars on the GT class front row for tomorrow New England Grand Prix, round five of the 2010 American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock Park in Northwest Connecticut.
Patrick Long (USA) captured the GT pole with the #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the car he shares with Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), while Wolf Henzler (Germany) put the Team Falken Tire Porsche in the second position, ahead of the factory Ferraris, BMWs and Corvettes. Henzler will share the Falken Porsche with Bryan Sellers (USA).
The two-hour, 45-minute New England Grand Prix field will get the green flag Saturday, July 24, at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight time, and will be telecast live in its entirety on SPEED TV. The live radio broadcast will be on Sirius Radio Channel #127 and XM Radio Channel #242, as well as on www.americanlemans.com, which also provides live timing and scoring.
“At Lime Rock, there is a fine line between being a hero and going into the guardrail, but the Flying Lizard crew and Michelin put us in position to turn a good lap in the steady rain,” said Long, who had the pole here in both 2006 and 2009.
“With our engine over the rear axle, the Porsche has an advantage in the rain over our competitors, and then our crew really nailed the setup, so it gave me all the right tools to go fast. With the competition in our class, you can turn a good lap and still end up seventh on the grid, so this is a great result for us.”
Henzler, whose Team Falken Tire Porsche was completely rebuilt after a fuel fire at Salt Lake City two weeks ago, was pleased with the car’s front row position on the grid.
“When the conditions are this wet, there is always the potential to lock up the wheels under braking, so the difference for us was the performance of our Falken rain tires. Even though we were pleased with our time, we felt we could have gone even faster – maybe not fast enough for the pole, but faster – if the traffic was better. Of course, the weight in the back of the Porsche helped us as well,” said Henzler.
Bergmeister/Long trail Ferrari drivers Melo/Bruni by two points in the drivers points chase, while Porsche is a single point behind BMW in the manufacturers championship going into tomorrow’s event.
In the overall LMP qualifying, Klaus Graf (Germany), in the Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder which he shares with team owner Greg Pickett (USA), qualified a close second to pole-sitter David Brabham (England). Graf was fastest in both practice sessions earlier in the day, and showed the field that he will be a factor in tomorrow’s event.
In the GTC class for matched Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racers, Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) scored his third straight pole in a row as he put the Black Swan Racing Porsche on the pole for him and car owner Tim Pappas (USA). Bleekemolen and Pappas are back in the championship hunt in the class after leaders Gonzales and Leitzinger withdrew their entry.
Complete qualifying results are available at www.americanlemans.com.
ALMS Lime Rock Qualifying
Laps Best Lap Behind BL
Pos Num CL Driver Car Comp Lap Time Leader CP Num
1 P 1 LMP David Brabham HPD ARX-01c 16 58.106 — 1 14
2 P 6 LMP Klaus Graf Porsche RS Spyder 18 58.746 -0.640 2 17
3 16 LMP Guy Smith Lola B09 86/Mazda 16 59.951 -1.845 3 16
4 P 8 LMP Jonny Cocker Lola B09 60/Judd 12 1:00.092 -1.986 4 11
5 37 LMP Jon Field Lola B06/10 AER 14 1:02.922 -4.816 5 13
6 55 LMPC Christophe Bouchut Oreca FLM09 18 1:03.020 -4.914 1 18
7 89 LMPC Kyle Marcelli Oreca FLM09 13 1:03.587 -5.481 2 13
8 P 45 GT Patrick Long Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 10 1:03.904 -5.798 1 5
9 P 52 LMPC Alex Figge Oreca FLM09 16 1:04.082 -5.976 3 16
10 P 17 GT Wolf Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 9 1:04.378 -6.272 2 5
11 P 62 GT Jaime Melo Ferrari 430 GT 10 1:04.391 -6.285 3 6
12 P 3 GT Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 10 1:04.563 -6.457 4 4
13 P 61 GT Mika Salo Ferrari 430 GT 11 1:04.929 -6.823 5 4
14 P 4 GT Oliver Gavin Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 10 1:05.011 -6.905 6 3
15 P 01 GT Johannes van Overb Ferrari 430 GT 10 1:05.064 -6.958 7 3
16 02 GT Guy Cosmo Ferrari 430 GT 4 1:05.346 -7.240 8 2
17 95 LMPC Scott Tucker Oreca FLM09 16 1:05.617 -7.511 4 16
18 P 92 GT Bill Auberlen BMW E92 M3 5 1:06.907 -8.801 9 1
19 P 40 GT David Murry Doran Design Ford GT 10 1:07.005 -8.899 10 4
20 36 LMPC Tom Sedivy Oreca FLM09 15 1:07.584 -9.478 5 15
21 75 GT Goossens/Dalziel Jaguar XKRS 9 1:07.661 -9.555 11 3
22 P 44 GT Seth Neiman Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 9 1:07.892 -9.786 12 2
23 P 54 GTC Jeroen Bleekemolen Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 5 1:08.129 -10.023 1 4
24 P 63 GTC Andy Lally Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 9 1:08.733 -10.627 2 6
25 P 90 GT Joey Hand BMW E92 M3 5 1:08.876 -10.770 13 1
26 P 88 GTC Shane Lewis Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 10 1:09.689 -11.583 3 2
27 32 GTC James Sofronas Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 10 1:09.837 -11.731 4 6
28 P 23 GTC Romeo Kapudija Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 11 1:11.135 -13.029 5 5
29 P 48 GTC Bryce Miller Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 8 1:11.648 -13.542 6 3
30 P 99 LMPC Elton Julian Oreca FLM09 5 1:18.455 -20.349 6 1
Source: Porsche Press Release
Photo Courtesy Flying Lizard Motorsports
