SportsCars

Michael Shank Racing to start 1-2 for Rolex 24

Autoracing1

Allmendinger and Negri celebrate

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael Shank Racing used Ford power to sweep the front row Thursday during qualifying for the 46th running of Rolex 24 At Daytona, which starts at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday, for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 at Daytona International Speedway.

Posting a lap that bested the previous Daytona Prototype track record by more than two-and-a-half seconds, Brazilian Oswaldo Negri Jr. drove his No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley to a lap time of 1:40.793 (127.151 mph) around the 3.56-mile road course, capturing the pole for America's longest professional sports car race.

"This is a great way to start our relationship with Ford Racing and I can't say how pleased I am to be on pole," said Negri, who was using Ford power for the first time in Daytona Prototype competition. "This is nothing compared to the effort we have ahead of us for the race, but it obviously feels good to set this record time and to have my teammate AJ right next to me on the front row. I've been saying that this Michael Shank Racing team is the best, and it's fantastic we can show that here today. Hopefully we can do what we came here to do and win this race."

Negri will lead a field of 67 cars – 25 Daytona Prototypes and 42 GT machines – to the green flag on Saturday before passing the No. 60 machine to season-long co-driver Mark Patterson and Champ Car stars Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson.

Second fastest was the Michael Shank Racing sister car, the No. 6 Ford Riley qualified by NASCAR Sprint Cup regular A.J. Allmendinger. Allmendinger is driving for Michael Shank Racing in his third consecutive Rolex 24.

"Mike Shank has put together a great team and I love coming to race for these guys, so it feels good to put them on the front row," said Allmendinger. "Mike (Shank) is a racer to the core, and this team is full of a lot of good guys. Everyone has fun, but they are focused on getting the job done. The car was strong, and this is a great way to start the weekend, but everyone knows that this is a long race and the work really happens on Saturday once the race starts."

Allmendinger will co-drive the No. 6 machine with Rolex Series regulars Ian James, John Pew and Burt Frisselle.

Belgian Marc Goossens qualified third with a time of 1:41.041 (126.840 mph), also bettering the previous lap record set by Alex Gurney in 2007. Goossens will co-drive with season-long teammate Jim Matthews, IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year Ryan Hunter-Reay and sports car star Johnny O'Connell.

Max Angelelli (1:41.161, 126.689 mph) in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley and Mark Wilkins (1:41.413, 126.374 mph) in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Exchange Traded Gold/Barrick Gold Ford Riley qualified fourth and fifth, respectively.

In GT qualifying, the No. 70 SpeedSource Castrol Syntec/Mazdaspeed Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay was fastest of four manufacturers in the class's top five. Tremblay's time of 1:50.758 (115.711 mph) topped the previous GT class record of 1:51.800, set by Patrick Huisman in last year's event.

While the pole isn't a barometer of success in a 24 hour race, it does prove the car's speed.

"The main thing for us is validation of all of our hard work," Tremblay said. "You need to have a fast car to win here. Obviously, the fastest car doesn't always win after 24 hours, but it definitely doesn't hurt. Also, because of the depth of the field, we really felt that starting up front and staying up front is key for us, especially early on."

Tremblay, who has a best class finish of second in the 2002 Rolex 24, will search for his first GT win with co-drivers Nick Ham, David Haskell and Champ Car Atlantic Champion Raphael Matos.

While SpeedSource battled down to the wire for a GT class championship last season, they'll start alongside of relative newcomer to the Rolex Series. Christian Montanari piloted the Mastercar Ferrari F430 around the Daytona road course in a time of 1:50.873 (115.592 mph) in the team's first appearance at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

"Honestly, we were really surprised, me and the team," Montanari said. "I think we did a very good job today. It is my second time in Daytona at the Rolex 24. First time with Ferrari, first time in GT and my first time with the team. I think we did a very good job today. We'll see for the race, because it's very long."

Montanari, who drove a SAMAX Daytona Prototype to a sixth place finish in last year's Rolex 24, will be joined by Thomas Biagi, Matthew Marsh and Luis Monson in one of two Ferarris entered into the event.

Spencer Pumpelly was the fastest Porsche in the session and third quickest overall, piloting the No. 67 TRG Monster Cable/Need For Speed Porsche GT3 to a lap of 1:50.945 (115.517 mph). Pumpelly will pilot the TRG machine with co-drivers Emmanuel Collard, Romain Dumas, Tim George Jr. and Bryan Sellers.

Johnny Mowlem (1:51.348, 115.099 mph) in the No. 34 Orbit PositiveOutput.com Porsche GT3 and Diego Alesi (1:51.450, 114.993 mph) in the Matt Connolly Motorsports CityDeals.com Pontiac GXP.R rounded out the GT class top five.

The top 30 times posted overall have been locked in for Saturday's grid. Twenty-four of the 25 Daytona Prototypes posted a qualifying time, while six GT cars locked in times. The remaining 36 GT machines may try to improve their times tomorrow for positions 7 through 42.

The Rolex Series returns to the track for practice at 9 a.m. Friday, with final qualifying at 11:40 a.m. The final practice for the Rolex 24 At Daytona is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, with the twice-around-the-clock commencing at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and ending at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Rolex 24 At Daytona First-Round Qualifying Results
Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Rolex 24 At Daytona Qualifying
at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Jan. 24, 2008

(listed with position, car number in parenthesis, team, car, time, speed in mph)

1. (60) Oswaldo Negri Jr., DP, Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, 1:40.793, 127.152.
2. (6) AJ Allmendinger, DP, Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, 1:40.802, 127.140.
3. (91) Marc Goossens, DP, Bob Stallings/Riley-Matthews Pontiac Riley, 1:41.041, 126.840.
4. (10) Max Angelelli, DP, SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley, 1:41.161, 126.689.
5. (61) Mark Wilkins, DP, AIM Autosport Ford Riley, 1:41.413, 126.374.
6. (01) Scott Pruett, DP, TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, 1:41.505, 126.260.
7. (58) David Donohue, DP, Brumos Porsche, Porsche Riley, 1:41.764, 125.938.
8. (11) Ryan Dalziel, DP, SAMAX, Pontiac Riley, 1:41.878, 125.798.
9. (7) Matt Plumb, DP, Sigalsport, BMW Riley, 1:41.975, 125.678.
10. (02) Scott Dixon, DP, Target Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, 1:41.996, 125.652.
11. (99) Alex Gurney, DP, Bob Stallings/ Riley Matthews Pontiac Riley, 1:42.160, 125.45.
12. (23) Joey Hand, DP, Alex Job Racing Porsche Crawford, 1:42.230, 125.364.
13. (9) Helio Castroneves, DP, Penske-Taylor Racing Pontiac Riley, 1:42.257, 125.331.
14. (2) Mike Rockenfeller, DP, SAMAX Pontiac Riley, 1:42.271, 125.314.
15. (76) Nic Jonsson, DP, Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley, 1:42.296, 125.283.
16. (77) Memo Gidley, DP, Doran Racing Ford Doran, 1:42.526, 125.002.
17. (59) Hurley Haywood, DP, Brumos Porsche/ Kendall Porsche Riley, 1:42.816, 124.650.
18. (3) Shane Lewis, DP, Southard Motorsports Lexus Riley, 1:42.936, 124.505.
19. (12) Tonis Kasemets, DP, RVO Motorsports Pontiac Riley, 1:43.135, 124.264.
20. (03) Vitor Meira, DP, Vision Racing Porsche Crawford, 1:43.342, 124.015.
21. (16) Matteo Bobbi, DP, Cheever Racing Pontiac Coyote, 1:43.618, 123.685.
22. (51) Tommy Erdos, DP, Cheever Racing Pontiac Coyote, 1:43.709, 123.577.
23. (09) Guy Cosmo, DP, Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Fabcar, 1:44.920, 122.150.
24. (31) Seth Ingham, DP, Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac Chase, 1:48.783, 117.813.
25. (70) Sylvain Tremblay, GT, SpeedSource Mazda RX8, 1:50.758, 115.712.
26. (56) Christian Montanari, GT, Mastercar Ferrari F430 CH, 1:50.873, 115.592.
27. (67) Spencer Pumpelly, GT, TRG Porsche GT3, 1:50.945, 115.517.
28. (34) Johnny Mowlem, GT, Orbit Porsche GT3, 1:51.348, 115.099.
29. (21) Diego Alesi, GT, Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac GTO.R, 1:51.450, 114.993.
30. (80) Jan Heylen, GT, Synergy Racing Porsche GT3, 1:51.513, 114.928.
31. (62) Martin Ragginger, GT, TRG Porsche GT3, 1:51.573, 114.866.
32. (30) Robert Thorne, GT, Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8, 1:51.606, 114.833.
33. (57) Robin Liddell, GT, Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R, 1:51.717, 114.718.
34. (88) Frank Stippler, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:51.723, 114.712.
35. (66) Bryce Miller, GT, TRG Porsche GT3, 1:51.802, 114.631.
36. (89) Jörg Hardt, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:51.805, 114.628.
37. (87) Dirk Werner, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:51.823, 114.610.
38. (86) Wolf Henzler, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:51.841, 114.591.
39. (15) David Empringham, GT, Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang Cobra GT, 1:51.947, 114.483.
40. (69) Jeff Segal, GT, SpeedSource Mazda RX8, 1:52.052, 114.375.
41. (07) Paul Edwards, GT, Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R, 1:52.061, 114.366.
42. (90) David Russell, GT, Automatic Racing BMW M6, 1:52.065, 114.362.
43. (27) Kevin Roush, GT, O'Connell Racing Porsche GT3, 1:52.095, 114.332.
44. (22) Marc Basseng, GT, Alegra Motorsports/Fiorano Racing Porsche GT3, 1:52.194, 114.231.
45. (29) Scooter Gabel, GT, Alegra Motorsports/Fiorano Racing Porsche GT3, 1:52.240, 114.184.
46. (63) Duncan Ende, GT, TRG Porsche GT3, 1:52.278, 114.145.
47. (14) Anthony Lazzaro, GT, Autometrics Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:52.473, 113.947.
48. (06) Andy Pilgrim, GT, Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R, 1:52.486, 113.934.
49. (40) Charles Espenlaub, GT, Hyper Sport Mazda RX8, 1:52.528, 113.892.
50. (72) Lawson Aschenbach, GT, Autohaus Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R, 1:52.552, 113.867.
51. (50) Boris Said, GT, Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang GT, 1:53.109, 113.307.
52. (83) Tim Bergmeister, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:53.136, 113.280.
53. (65) Tommy Archer, GT, TRG Porsche GT3, 1:53.174, 113.242.
54. (85) Ross Bentley, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:53.353, 113.063.
55. (43) Wayne Nonnamaker, GT, Team Sahlen Corvette, 1:53.564, 112.853.
56. (74) David Murry, GT, Autometrics Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:53.812, 112.607.
57. (84) Chris Bingham, GT, Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:53.991, 112.430.
58. (17) Ron Zitza, GT, Terra Firma Motorsports Porsche GT3, 1:54.309, 112.117.
59. (68) John Mayes, GT, TRG, Porsche GT3, 1:54.316, 112.110.
60. (52) Constantino Bertuzzi, GT, Mastercar Ferrari F430 CH, 1:54.855, 111.584.
61. (64) Johannes van Overbeek, GT, TRG Porsche GT3, 1:55.268, 111.184.
62. (44) Glenn Nixon, GT, Bullet Racing Porsche GT3, 1:55.424, 111.034.
63. (26) Joe Jacalone, GT, Gotham Competition Porsche GT3, 1:57.408, 109.158.
64. (08) Steve Goldin, GT, Goldin Brothers Racing Mazda RX8, 1:58.400, 108.243.