Jon Fogarty turned a lap of 1min 21.057secs in qualifying to capture pole position for the Porsche 250 presented by Legacy Credit Union at Barber Motorsports Park – the eighth round of the Grand Am Rolex Series season.
The top three contenders for the Daytona Prototype championship swept the top three positions. Memo Rojas was second with a lap of 1min 21.209secs, while Brian Frisselle timed in third quickest at 1min 21.273secs.
In GT qualifying, Leh Keen edged Joe Foster for the pole as the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 shared by Keen and Dirk Werner is looking for its fourth consecutive victory.
Fogarty captured his second pole of the season in the #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley. His run came after co-driver Alex Gurney had an off-course excursion into a tyre barrier in the final minute of morning practice, and the team rebuilt the car in time for the qualifying session. Fogarty and Gurney enter the race third in the Daytona Prototype points. Rojas and Scott Pruett, co-drivers of the #01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, lead with 199 points, followed by Frisselle and Max Angelelli with 198 and the GAINSCO duo with 196.
"It was everything I could do," Fogarty said. "It was tight in qualifying. We had an incident in the previous practice (traced to an alternator failure which locked up the steering), but the crew did a great job getting it back together. It was a white-knuckler there - I was hanging it out. But that's what you have to do in this series."
Rojas leads the series with three poles in five qualifying attempts, while both the GAINSCO and TELMEX teams have two victories apiece.
"It was a good run for us, because we were struggling yesterday in practice," Rojas said. "The car is pretty good right now, and I think it will be good for the race."
Memo Gidley was fourth fastest in qualifying, running a lap of 1min 21.290secs in the #77 McDonald's Ford Dallara, while Antonio Garcia will start fifth after qualifying the #09 Spirit of Daytona Porsche Coyote at 1min 21.516secs.
Romain Dumas, involved in a practice accident Friday that badly damaged the #12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley, came back to qualify seventh despite a very sore left ankle. The team sent to its Mooresville, N.C. shops to spare parts and worked until 3 a.m. to complete repairs. IndyCar Series driver Ryan Briscoe was entered as a third driver as a precautionary measure, but the team determined he will not be needed for the race. Penske Racing is still seeking its first victory in Rolex Series competition.
