Fogarty Drives Corvette DP To Detroit Pole

Jon Fogarty

Jon Fogarty made the most of the first dry track conditions of the day Friday, padding his GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series record by earning the top starting spot for Saturday's Chevrolet GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle and the TOTAL Pole Award.

Fogarty, the Rolex Series' all-time leader in poles, notched his first top qualifying spot of the season and the 20th of his career. His fast lap of 1:22.369 (90.908 mph) in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP was just enough to edge Max Angelelli, winner of the last two races in the Daytona Prototype class. It also backed up co-driver Alex Gurney's chart-topping lap in a soggy first practice Friday morning.

"It's great that the weather cleared," said Fogarty. “We felt like we had a pretty good car in the wet and just kind of figured it would be a good car in the dry, and it was. "I’m just really pleased. It's good to be back on the pole."

Angelelli, whose top lap was just .076 seconds behind Fogarty's, will start second in the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP he shares with Ricky Taylor. Action Express Racing claimed the second row with Terry Borcheller third in the No. 5 Corvette DP and Darren Law fourth in the No. 9 Corvette DP completing a top-four sweep for Chevrolet in its hometown. Borcheller’s co-driver is Darren Law, while Law is sharing the No. 9 machine with Joao Barbosa.

Guy Cosmo paced qualifying for the Grand Touring (GT) class, driving the No. 03 Tequila Patron Ferrari 458 from Extreme Speed Motorsports. He'll start 11th overall with co-driver Scott Sharp in Saturday's two-hour event, GRAND AM's first on the 2.1-mile Detroit Belle Isle street course. Cosmo’s fast lap of 1:22.369 (90.908 mph) marked a pair of firsts — the first pole for both the driver and the Italian model, which made its series debut this season.

"Certainly a great day," Cosmo said. "It's fun to finally have an opportunity to be in a nice, competitive car and show up at a race like this. Detroit is a place that I have always heard is a fantastic race, incredible course … everybody raves about the event here."

John Edwards was second in GT qualifying in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R he will co-drive with Robin Liddell with Andrew Davis third in the No. 59 The Brumos Companies Porsche GT3 he shares with Leh Keen.

The race is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on SPEED and MRN Radio.Friday, June 1, 2012 – Qualifying Report

Daytona Prototype Top 3:
* Jon Fogarty – No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP – 1:22.369 (90.908 mph)
* Max Angelelli – No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP – 1:22.445 (90.824 mph)
* Terry Borcheller (No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP) – 1:23.013 (90.203 mph)

GT Top 3:
* Guy Cosmo – No. 03 Extreme Speed Motorsports Patron Ferrari 458 Italia – 1:27.967 (85.123 mph)
* John Edwards – No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R – 1:28.493 (84.617 mph)
* Andrew Davis – No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3 – 1:29.356 (83.800 mph)