Donahue wins pole in Mid-Ohio
Competitors will take the green flag Saturday at 5:10 p.m. ET (live, SPEED). The race will run 250 miles, 111 laps on the 2.258-mile circuit, with a two hour, 45-minute time limit.
It was the series-leading third pole position of the season for Donohue, who co-drives the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley with Darren Law. His fastest lap came on his ninth of the 15-minute session
"During our first practice session today, we had a wheel bearing fail and had to change an upright. That's why we spent most of the session in the garage," said Donohue, who won his eighth Daytona Prototype pole. "Then, we changed engines before the second and final practice, and got in only one lap at the end. Altogether, Darren and I each got in about four hot laps each today. I was very pleasantly surprised to win the pole, because we really didn't get to do much to the car today. It's almost the way it rolled off the truck. But the crew really worked hard to do it – they didn't get a break all day today."
Donohue broke Jon Fogarty's year-old Daytona Prototype track record of 1:18.374, 103.718 mph. Fogarty qualified second, running a lap of 1:17.885, 104.369 mph, in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley.
Mark Wilkins was third in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley, 104.070 mph, followed by Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, 103.924 mph, and Nic Jonsson in the No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola, 103.404 mph.
Rojas is seeking his fifth Daytona Prototype victory of the season. His co-driver, Scott Pruett, was not at Mid-Ohio Friday, practicing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at California's Infineon Raceway. The pair share the point lead in the division, leading Jim Matthews and Marc Goossens by 36 points.
Rounding out the top 10 were Michael Valiante, Ricky Taylor, Guy Cosmo, John Pew and Shane Lewis.
Lawson Aschenbach became the eighth different pole winner in Rolex Series GT competition, running a lap of 1:25.627, 94.933 mph in the No. 72 Autohaus Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R. It was the second GT pole of the season for that car, with Tim Lewis Jr. leading qualifying at Lime Rock Park.
"This is great, because this team has worked so hard this year, and we don't have the results that show what we can do," said Aschenbach, who won his first career pole in the series. "It's good to win the pole. It makes everyone on the team happy. Now, we need to get a good finish. If we have the fortunes go our way for once, we should be good to go."
Watkins Glen winner Jeff Segal was second fastest in the No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8, 1:25.639, 94.929 mph. Rounding out the top five were Andrew Davis, 94.758 mph in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R; Nick Ham, 94.724 mph in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX.8; and Eric Lux, 94.501 mph in the No. 86 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3.
Segal was not set to qualify on Friday, but co-driver Emil Assentato was under the weather and unable to practice. The team is flying in Watkins Glen co-winner Nick Longhi in case he is needed for Saturday's race.
The weekend also includes a race for the Street Tuner class of the KONI Challenge, set for 12:45 p.m. Sunday.
|
Pos |
Num | Class | CPos | Drivers | Team | Car | Time | Gap | To 1st |
| 1. | 58 | DP | 1 | D.Donohue, D.Law | Brumos Porsche | Porsche Riley | 1:17.883 | ||
| 2. | 99 | DP | 2 | J.Fogarty, A.Gurney | Bob Stallings Racing | Pontiac Riley | 1:17.885 | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| 3. | 61 | DP | 3 | Br.Frisselle, M.Wilkins | AIM Autosport | Ford Riley | 1:18.109 | 0.224 | 0.226 |
| 4. | 01 | DP | 4 | S.Pruett, M.Rojas | Chip Ganassi Racing | Lexus Riley | 1:18.219 | 0.110 | 0.336 |
| 5. | 76 | DP | 5 | N.Jonsson, R.Zonta | Krohn Racing | Pontiac Lola | 1:18.612 | 0.393 | 0.729 |
| 6. | 10 | DP | 6 | M.Angelelli, M.Valiante | SunTrust Racing | Pontiac Dallara | 1:18.789 | 0.177 | 0.906 |
| 7. | 47 | DP | 7 | Bu.Frisselle R.Taylor | Doran Racing | Ford Dallara | 1:19.106 | 0.317 | 1.223 |
| 8. | 09 | DP | 8 | M-A.Camirand, G.Cosmo | Spirit of Daytona Racing | Porsche Coyote | 1:19.136 | 0.030 | 1.253 |
| 9. | 6 | DP | 9 | I.James, J.Pew | Michael Shank Racing | Ford Riley | 1:19.202 | 0.066 | 1.319 |
| 10. | 3 | DP | 10 | B.Lester, S.Lewis | Southard Motorsports | Lexus Riley | 1:19.363 | 0.161 | 1.480 |
| 11. | 60 | DP | 11 | O.Negri, M.Patterson | Michael Shank Racing | Ford Riley | 1:19.433 | 0.070 | 1.550 |
| 12. | 23 | DP | 12 | B.Auberlen, J.Hand | Alex Job Racing | Porsche Crawford | 1:19.457 | 0.024 | 1.574 |
| 13. | 75 | DP | 13 | T.Krohn, E.van de Poele | Krohn Racing | Pontiac Lola | 1:19.627 | 0.170 | 1.744 |
| 14. | 77 | DP | 14 | M.Gidley, B.Jaeger | Doran Racing | Ford Dallara | 1:19.840 | 0.213 | 1.957 |
| 15. | 16 | DP | 15 | A.Gracia, T.Kimber-Smith | Cheever Racing | Pontiac Coyote | 1:19.848 | 0.008 | 1.965 |
| 16. | 91 | DP | 16 | M.Goossens, J.Matthews | Bob Stallings/Riley-Matthews | Pontiac Riley | 1:20.158 | 0.310 | 2.275 |
| 17. | 59 | DP | 17 | J.Barbosa, JC.France | Brumos Porsche | Porsche Riley | 1:20.463 | 0.305 | 2.580 |
| 18. | 7 | DP | 18 | M.Plumb, G.Sigal | Sigalsport Rum Bum Racing | BMW Riley | 1:20.574 | 0.111 | 2.691 |
| 19. | 2 | DP | 19 | R.Dalziel, H.Zogaib | SAMAX | BMW Riley | 1:25.277 | 4.703 | 7.394 |
| 20. | 72 | GT | 1 | L.Aschenbach, T.Lewis | Autohaus Motorsports | Pontiac GXP.R | 1:25.627 | 0.350 | 7.744 |
| 21. | 69 | GT | 2 | E.Assentato, J.Segal | SpeedSource | Mazda RX-8 | 1:25.639 | 0.012 | 7.756 |
| 22. | 57 | GT | 3 | A.Davis, R.Liddell | Stevenson Motorsports | Pontiac GXP.R | 1:25.785 | 0.146 | 7.902 |
| 23. | 70 | GT | 4 | N.Ham, S.Tremblay | SpeedSource | Mazda RX-8 | 1:25.816 | 0.031 | 7.933 |
| 24. | 86 | GT | 5 | L.Keen, E.Lux | Farnbacher Loles Motorsports | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:26.018 | 0.202 | 8.135 |
| 25. | 87 | GT | 6 | B.Miller, D.Werner | Farnbacher Loles Motorsports | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:26.027 | 0.009 | 8.144 |
| 26. | 07 | GT | 7 | K.Collins, P.Edwards | Banner Racing | Pontiac GXP.R | 1:26.070 | 0.043 | 8.187 |
| 27. | 30 | GT | 8 | C.Stone, R.Smith | Racers Edge Motorsports | Mazda RX-8 | 1:26.099 | 0.029 | 8.216 |
| 28. | 88 | GT | 9 | D.Lacey, S.Johnson | Farnbacher Loles Motorsports | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:26.146 | 0.047 | 8.263 |
| 29. | 67 | GT | 10 | T.George, S.Pumpelly | TRG | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:26.343 | 0.197 | 8.460 |
| 30. | 32 | GT | 11 | M.Forest, P.Barrett | PR1 Motorsports | Pontiac GXP.R | 1:26.382 | 0.039 | 8.499 |
| 31. | 21 | GT | 12 | D.Alessi, R.Phinny | Matt Connolly Motorsports | Pontiac GTO.R | 1:26.591 | 0.209 | 8.708 |
| 32. | 66 | GT | 13 | T.Ballou, A.Lally | TRG | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:26.678 | 0.087 | 8.795 |
| 33. | 06 | GT | 14 | M.Bunting, J.Magnussen | Banner Racing | Pontiac GXP.R | 1:26.902 | 0.224 | 9.019 |
| 34. | 40 | GT | 15 | P.Dempsey, J.Foster | Hyper Sport | Mazda RX-8 | 1:26.972 | 0.070 | 9.089 |
| 35. | 43 | GT | 16 | J.Nonnamaker, Wa.Nonnamaker | Team Sahlen | Corvette | 1:26.988 | 0.016 | 9.105 |
| 36. | 53 | GT | 17 | T.Constantine, M.Borkowski | Fall-Line Motorsports | BMW M6 | 1:27.200 | 0.212 | 9.317 |
| 37. | 65 | GT | 18 | J.Gutierrez, C.Stanton | TRG/Riegel Autosport | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:27.896 | 0.696 | 10.013 |
| 38. | 42 | GT | 19 | Wi.Nonnamaker, J.Sahlen | Team Sahlen | Corvette | 1:28.190 | 0.294 | 10.307 |
| 39. | 68 | GT | 20 | B.Sellers, RJ.Valentine | TRG | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:28.298 | 0.108 | 10.415 |
| 40. | 71 | GT | 21 | M.Grant, K.Grant, C.Grant | Synergy Racing | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:28.618 | 0.320 | 10.735 |
| 41. | 74 | GT | 22 | A.Lazzaro, D.Skea, Z.Schiff | GTS/Mitchum Motorsports | Porsche GT3 Cup | 1:28.833 | 0.215 | 10.950 |