After the practice and qualifying sessions, the grid is set for
Saturday's race. In the P1 class, it was the # 66 Acura ARX 02a
of de Ferran/Pagenaud/Dixon which stole the pole position from
the # 2 diesel powered Audi R15 of Capello/McNish/Kristensen
and the Peugeot 908 of Minassian/Lamy/Klein. Scott Dixon set
the fastest time in the Acura, with a 1min 45.278secs, but that
was only 0.082sec quicker than the Audi, and only 0.184sec
quicker than the Peugeot, so all things being equal it should be a
closely fought race for overall honours, especially as the five
quickest cars are only covered by 0.281sec.
In the P2 class it was another Acura that took the class pole, this
time it was the # 16 ARX 01b of Fernandez/Diaz, whilst the
Beretta/Gavin/Faessler Corvette C6R beat the sister car of
Magnusson/O'Connell/Garcia to the class pole, these being the
only two GT1 class entries. In the GT2 group the class pole went
to the # 87 Henzler/Werner/Lietz Porsche 911 RSR of the
Farnbacher Loles Racing team, ahead of the # 45 Flying Lizard
Motorsports example of Bergmeister/Long/Lieb. Taking 3rd spot
was the AE Pecom Racing Team's # 95 Ferrari F430 GT, driven
by Companc/Russo/Bruni, whilst the # 62 Risi Competizione
example will start from the back of the grid, as driver Jaime Melo
was delayed in Italy with visa problems, and didn't arrive in time
for qualifying.
Keith Bluemel
03/2009
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