Gainsco’s Fogarty wins pole in NJ
Jon Fogarty found the new setup to his liking on Saturday, running a lap of 1:15.148 (107.787 mph) to capture his first pole position of the season in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley. Friday, co-driver and defending Daytona Prototype co-champion Alex Gurney led both practice sessions at the 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Raceway.
The NJMP 250, Round 9 of the 12-race Rolex Series season, takes the green flag at 1 p.m. ET (SPEED, live).
"We unloaded with a good car, even though we came here a package that was vastly different from what we've run here in the past," said Fogarty, who scored his Rolex Series-leading 15th career pole. "The setup is working quite well, and I'm very happy to be up front with Chevrolet's first pole of the year."
Ricky Taylor will start second in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford/Dallara after running a best lap of 1:15.416 (107.404 mph) to secure his third consecutive front-row start. His co-driver, Max Angelelli, has finished second both years the Rolex Series has raced at this circuit.
"That was the epitome of a qualifying session – flat out, 110-percent every lap," Taylor said.
Mark Wilkins qualified third in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford/Riley, 1:15.489 (107.300 mph) while DP points co-leader Memo Rojas will start fourth after running a lap of 1:15.671 (107.042 mph) in the No. 01 Telmex BMW/Riley that won six of eight races this season. Rojas and Scott Pruett enter the race with a 13-point in the Daytona Prototype championship over Ryan Dalziel, whose co-driver Mike Forest will start 12th in the No. 8 Flex-Box/Xtreme Indoor Karting BMW/Riley.
Chevrolets dominated qualifying for the production-based GT class, taking the top three positions. Paul Edwards ran a lap of 1:21.360 (99.518 mph) to win the pole in the No. 07 Banner Racing Corvette co-driven by motorcycle veteran Scott Russell.
"We really needed it, because we've had a tough start to the season," said Edwards, who led qualifying at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Chevrolet's only other pole position of the season. "I've felt we've deserved a good result many times, but it all hasn't come together for us. We're planning on finishing the last four races of the season strong, and that's what we did today. Scott and I have worked real hard to find a good balance here, and we're happy with the car."
Edwards will be joined on the front row by Formula 1 veteran Jan Magnussen, in the No. 97 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro co-driven by Gunter Schaldach. Robin Liddell qualified third in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro co-driven by Andrew Davis, running a lap of 1:21.614 (99.248 mph).
Jonathan Bomarito qualified the fastest of eight Mazdas entered, and will start fourth after running a lap of 1:21.679 (99.169 mph) in the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8.
Championship leaders Emil Assentato and Jeff Segal will start 14th in the No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8. They enter the race with a nine-point lead over Andy Lally, who starts 18th, joining RJ Valentine in the No. 66 Advanced Aerosol Engineering Porsche GT3 that won the most recent race, the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
Sunday's schedule opens with a 30-minute practice session at 9:30 a.m. ET. In addition to SPEED, the race will be broadcast live on MRN Radio, motorracingnetwork.com and on Sirius NASCAR Channel 128.
Lineup
|
Pos |
Num | Class | Team | Car | Time | Gap | To 1st | Speed |
| 1. | 99 | DP | Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing | Chevrolet Riley | 1:15.148 | – | – | 107.787 |
| 2. | 10 | DP | SunTrust Racing | Ford Dallara | 1:15.416 | 0.268 | 0.268 | 107.404 |
| 3. | 61 | DP | AIM Autosport | Ford Riley | 1:15.489 | 0.073 | 0.341 | 107.300 |
| 4. | 01 | DP | Chip Ganassi Racing w/F.Sabates | BMW Riley | 1:15.671 | 0.182 | 0.523 | 107.042 |
| 5. | 75 | DP | Krohn Racing | Ford Lola | 1:15.861 | 0.190 | 0.713 | 106.774 |
| 6. | 6 | DP | Michael Shank Racing | Ford Riley | 1:16.095 | 0.234 | 0.947 | 106.445 |
| 7. | 59 | DP | Brumos Racing | Porsche Riley | 1:16.126 | 0.031 | 0.978 | 106.402 |
| 8. | 77 | DP | Doran Racing | Ford Dallara | 1:16.502 | 0.376 | 1.354 | 105.879 |
| 9. | 90 | DP | Spirit of Daytona Racing | Porsche Coyote | 1:16.878 | 0.376 | 1.730 | 105.361 |
| 10. | 60 | DP | Michael Shank Racing | Ford Riley | 1:17.063 | 0.185 | 1.915 | 105.108 |
| 11. | 9 | DP | Action Express Racing | Porsche Riley | 1:17.216 | 0.153 | 2.068 | 104.900 |
| 12. | 8 | DP | Starworks Motorsport | BMW Riley | 1:17.306 | 0.090 | 2.158 | 104.778 |
| 13. | 7 | DP | Starworks Motorsport | BMW Riley | 1:17.632 | 0.326 | 2.484 | 104.338 |
| 14. | 07 | GT | Banner Racing | Corvette | 1:21.360 | 3.728 | 6.212 | 99.557 |
| 15. | 97 | GT | Stevenson Motorsports | Camaro GT.R | 1:21.565 | 0.205 | 6.417 | 99.307 |
| 16. | 57 | GT | Stevenson Motorsports | Camaro GT.R | 1:21.614 | 0.049 | 6.466 | 99.247 |
| 17. | 70 | GT | SpeedSource | Mazda RX-8 | 1:21.679 | 0.065 | 6.531 | 99.168 |
| 18. | 68 | GT | SpeedSource/Newman Wachs Racing | Mazda RX-8 | 1:21.976 | 0.297 | 6.828 | 98.809 |
| 19. | 31 | GT | Marsh Racing | Corvette | 1:22.082 | 0.106 | 6.934 | 98.681 |
| 20. | 28 | GT | LG Motorsports | Corvette | 1:22.315 | 0.233 | 7.167 | 98.402 |
| 21. | 40 | GT | Dempsey Racing | Mazda RX-8 | 1:22.352 | 0.037 | 7.204 | 98.358 |
| 22. | 94 | GT | Turner Motorsport | BMW M6 | 1:22.494 | 0.142 | 7.346 | 98.188 |
| 23. | 43 | GT | Team Sahlen | Mazda RX-8 | 1:22.680 | 0.186 | 7.532 | 97.968 |
| 24. | 41 | GT | Dempsey Racing | Mazda RX-8 | 1:22.762 | 0.082 | 7.614 | 97.871 |
| 25. | 64 | GT | JLowe Racing | Porsche GT3 | 1:22.864 | 0.102 | 7.716 | 97.750 |
| 26. | 69 | GT | SpeedSource | Mazda RX-8 | 1:23.315 | 0.451 | 8.167 | 97.221 |
| 27. | 44 | GT | Magnus Racing | Porsche GT3 | 1:23.719 | 0.404 | 8.571 | 96.752 |
| 28. | 30 | GT | Racers Edge Motorsports | Mazda RX-8 | 1:23.762 | 0.043 | 8.614 | 96.702 |
| 29. | 42 | GT | Team Sahlen | Mazda RX-8 | 1:25.258 | 1.496 | 10.110 | 95.005 |
| 30. | 66 | GT | TRG | Porsche GT3 | 1:26.368 | 1.110 | 11.220 | 93.784 |
| 31. | 67 | GT | TRG | Porsche GT3 | 1:27.237 | 0.869 | 12.089 | 92.850 |