Pontiac teams will make up the first two rows for Monday's running of round six of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series at Lime Rock Park, the GT-only weekend witnessing Tim Lewis Jr's first career pole with the Autohaus team.
Lewis is the defending racewinner at Lime Rock, having won the 2007 event in the Banner Pontiac with Leighton Reese but, along with new team-mate Lawson Aschenbach, is looking to get onto the podium for the first time this season. The duo is currently only ninth in points and comes to Connecticut off the back of a disappointing weekend at Laguna Seca.
“This is a good result for the team after our Laguna result,” Lewis said, “I was able to get a clean lap right off of the bat in qualifying. The tyres came in and I put in a fast lap early. We came in to do a slight bar change because the rear had gotten a little loose, but I couldn't get a clean run in traffic and the lap time held up.
"The Autohaus team makes improvements with the car each race and do a great job preparing the GXP.R. I won here last year in a Pontiac, so I am hoping we can do it again on Monday.”
Starting next to the #72 will be the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac of Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell. Davis put in a lap of 52.458secs to share the front row with Lewis, and will be looking to add to the victories already claimed in Mexico City and Virginia International Raceway.
“I had a fast lap going and then I came up on another car and that was just enough to slow me down,” Davis said, “I went into the session believing I could get the pole. I had a pole run going then had to go slightly off line with the traffic and that was just enough to cost me a tenth. The car is good we have been up at the top of the charts all weekend. It got a little loose after about three laps, but that is typical with these tyres. I wanted to get a good starting position after our tough race at Laguna.”
Jan Magnussen was at the controls of the #06 Banner Racing Pontiac for qualifying, but could not quite get the car he shares with veteran Ron Fellows onto the front row.
“When the tyres came in, the car was really good,” the Dane said, “but I had two good laps and then the tyres tend to drop off. When the tyres drop off, the rear-end goes to loose. But qualifying was the first time we put new tyres on this weekend and, when we were practicing on the old tyres, we had a well-balanced car. The field is very tight and there are all Pontiacs at the front, so the start will be interesting. Ron and I have a lot of laps here, so I think we will be fine for the race.”
Kelly Collins qualified the #07 Banner Pontiac in fourth, the current points leader looking to build on the momentum gained with a second win of the season at Laguna last weekend.
