Shank Racing fastest Friday at Barber

Michael Valiante "won" another practice session Friday at Barber Motorsports Park, running a lap of 1:20.692 (102.612 mph) to lead the opening day of preparation for Sunday's Porsche 250 presented by Legacy Credit Union, Round 8 of the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

Valiante has led at least one session at seven of the eight events this season in the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley. He holds the track record, 1:20.251 (102.830 mph), set in qualifying for this event last year when Valiante piloted the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara.

Qualifying begins at 1 p.m. CT Saturday, with the race taking the green flag Sunday at 2 p.m. (SPEED live, 3 p.m. ET).

"We've got a pretty good record going in practice, so we just have to get a little luck in some of the races," Valiante said. "We've just had a few issues. We've got a podium (second at Virginia International Raceway) and we're fifth in the points, so we'd definitely like to get a victory before the season ends."

Valiante finished fourth after the team started last in the most recent event, the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway, after co-driver John Pew crashed in practice. The team managed to complete repairs moments before the start of the race.

Alex Gurney was second fastest in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley, 1:20.860 (102.399 mph), followed by Scott Pruett in the No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley, 1:20.933 (102.231 mph).

Pruett and co-driver Memo Rojas are the event's defending winners, and hold a one-point lead in the championship over SunTrust drivers Brian Frisselle and Max Angelelli (199-198). Gurney and Jon Fogarty are another two points back with 196 points.

Jeff Segal led Acxiom GT practice with a morning lap of 1:27.816 (94.288 mph) in the No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8, followed by Paul Edwards in the No. 07 Drinkin' Mate Pontiac GXP.R, 1:27.984 (94.108 mph).

Two cars sustained major undertray damage after off-track excursions, but both the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley of Mark Patterson and the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley of Romain Dumas are expected to be repaired for Saturday's final practice at 9:20 a.m. Dumas suffered a bruised left foot and cuts on his ankle but is expected to return to action tomorrow. Grand-am

Results

Pos

Num Cls CPos Drivers Team Car Time Gap Behind
1. 6 DP 1 J.Pew, M.Valiante Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley 1:20.692
2. 99 DP 2 J.Fogarty, A.Gurney Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley 1:20.860 0.168 0.168
3. 01 DP 3 S.Pruett, M.Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing w/F.Sabates Lexus Riley 1:20.993 0.133 0.301
4. 09 DP 4 A.Garcia, B.Rice Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote 1:21.465 0.472 0.773
5. 77 DP 5 M.Gidley, B.Jaeger Doran Racing Ford Dallara 1:21.593 0.128 0.901
6. 10 DP 6 M.Angelelli, Br.Frisselle SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara 1:21.628 0.035 0.936
7. 12 DP 7 R.Dumas, T.Bernhard Penske Racing Porsche Riley 1:21.985 0.357 1.293
8. 60 DP 8 O.Negri, M.Patterson Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley 1:22.103 0.118 1.411
9. 61 DP 9 Bu.Frisselle, M.Wilkins AIM Autosport Ford Riley 1:22.194 0.091 1.502
10. 76 DP 10 N.Jonsson, R.Zonta Krohn Racing Ford Lola 1:22.336 0.142 1.644
11. 58 DP 11 D.Donohue, D.Law Brumos Racing Porsche Riley 1:22.346 0.010 1.654
12. 59 DP 12 J.Barbosa, JC.France Brumos Racing Porsche Riley 1:22.443 0.097 1.751
13. 5 DP 13 J.Beyer, J.Taylor Beyer Racing Honda Riley 1:22.671 0.228 1.979
14. 2 DP 14 A.Wallace, R.Finlay Childress-Howard Motorsports Pontiac Crawford 1:24.121 1.450 3.429
15. 13 DP 15 M.Forest, R.Taylor Beyer Racing Pontiac Riley 1:24.471 0.350 3.779
16. 69 GT 1 E.Assentato, J.Segal SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 1:27.816 3.345 7.124
17. 07 GT 2 K.Collins, P.Edwards Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R 1:27.984 0.168 7.292
18. 40 GT 3 J.Foster, C.Espenlaub Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 1:28.532 0.548 7.840
19. 57 GT 4 A.Davis, R.Liddell Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R 1:28.631 0.099 7.939
20. 70 GT 5 N.Ham, S.Tremblay SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 1:28.823 0.192 8.131
21. 66 GT 6 S.Pumpelly, J.Potter TRG Porsche GT3 1:28.967 0.144 8.275
22. 86 GT 7 E.Lux, W.Henzler Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 1:29.395 0.428 8.703
23. 67 GT 8 A.Lally, J.Marks TRG Porsche GT3 1:29.396 0.001 8.704
24. 87 GT 9 L.Keen, D.Werner Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3 1:29.473 0.077 8.781
25. 65 GT 10 J.Potter, C.Stanton Riegel/Stanton/TRG Porsche GT3 1:29.875 0.402 9.183
26. 68 GT 11 J.Gutierrez, S.Schroeder TRG Porsche GT3 1:30.525 0.650 9.833
27. 30 GT 12 D.Cameron, Wa.Nonnamaker Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8 1:30.672 0.147 9.980
28. 43 GT 13 J.Nonnamaker, Wa.Nonnamaker Team Sahlen Corvette 1:32.011 1.339 11.319
29. 42 GT 14 Wi.Nonnamaker, J.Sahlen Team Sahlen Corvette 1:32.112 0.101 11.420
30. 21 GT 15 M.Connolly, S.Lewis, M.Halpin Battery Tender/MCM Racing Pontiac GTO.R 1:33.115 1.003 12.423