Michael Valiante broke the four-year old Barber Motorsports Park track record to claim pole position for Sunday's Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant on behalf of SunTrust Racing.
The Canadian posted a lap of 1min 20.521secs in the #10 Pontiac Dallara to secure his second - and the team's third - pole of 2008, and break Max Papis's existing record by almost a tenth of a second. Valiante's previous pole came in the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway, while team-mate Max Angelelli claimed the third at Watkins Glen in June. It was also the second pole for the Dallara chassis.
However, no team has won from the pole this season, with the last to do so being the #99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley of Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty almost a full year ago, at Infineon Raceway in August 2007.
"The guys have done such a great job all year providing me and Max with a great car," Valiante said, "I was able to go quickly right away due to them making the car so drivable."
Championship leader Memo Rojas was second fastest in the #01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Lexus Riley. Rojas and co-driver Scott Pruett have won five of the eight
Daytona Prototype races this season, opening up a 40-point lead in the championship standings, but the Mexican will start on the front row for only the second time this season, since winning the pole for the Mexico City 250.
"We put up a decent lap, but I think our car has better potential," he claimed, "I made a mistake on my first lap and spun, so I wasn't able to get out of traffic, but I was still able to get in a good lap."
Ricardo Zonta waited until the final minute of the session to post the third-fastest lap, putting the #76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola he shares with Nic Jonsson ahead of defending race winner Jon Fogarty, who qualified fourth in the #99 Pontiac Riley he co-drives with Alex Gurney.
![Angelelli/Taylor - #10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Dallara [Pic credit: Grand Am]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/433691.jpg)
