Roush, Zacharias Win GS, ST Pole Positions Apr. 23, 2010 Michael Harker DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 23, 2010) - Jack Roush Jr. scored his first career pole position in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge on Friday at Virginia International Raceway by the slimmest of margins, and he will lead a pack of 31 Grand Sport (GS) class cars to the green flag for Saturday's Bosch Engineering VIR 200. The two-and-a-half hour race, also featuring the Street Tuner (ST) class, will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET. Roush turned in a time of 2:03.351 (95.434 mph) in the No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT. He'll share the front row with Joe Foster in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports/Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R. Foster's time was one thousandth of a second behind - 2:03.352 (95.434 mph) - in a bid for his third consecutive pole position. It did, however, mark Foster and co-driver Scott Maxwell's fourth straight front row start. Roush and co-driver Billy Johnson have a victory and second-place finish in their last two races after failing to score points in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. They are sixth in points. "It was intense," Roush said. "I had only one lap with traffic, so I was lucky to get in a few clean laps. The car felt a little different from practice running with sticker tires in qualifying, so I took time to feel it out and get a good time." Third was Steve Cameron (2:03.409; 95.390 mph) in the No. 46 Fall-Line/Trim Tex BMW M3 he shares with Rob Finlay, while fourth was defending race co-winner Bret Seafuse (2:03.524; 95.301 mph) in the No. 37 Trumansburg ShurSave Ford Mustang Boss 302R he co-drives with James Gue. Fifth was Charlie Putman (2:03.561; 95.273 mph) in the No. 48 Sparco/Battery Tender BMW M3 he co-pilots with Charles Espenlaub. GS points co-leader Andrew Hendricks was 20th in the No. 45 Stable One Racing BMW M3 he shares with Terry Borcheller. In ST, BJ Zacharias ran his fastest lap late in the 15-minute session and garnered the pole in the No. 196 Cruise America/4 Winds RV Mini Cooper S with a time of 2:10.085 (90.495 mph). Zacharias is co-driving with Owen Trinkler. "I'm only in the driver's seat," Zacharias said. "Owen is doing everything - he even drives the transporter, getting here at 4 a.m. the other day. They're giving him some rest, so they put me in for qualifying. The Mini Coopers are good in the turns, but any time we can get a draft, it makes a big difference. It did today." Qualifying alongside Zacharias was Zach Lutz in the No. 75 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si, who timed in at 2:10.606 (90.134 mph). Lutz's co-driver is Ryan Eversley. Third was Eric Foss (2:10.923; 89.915 mph) in the No. 27 Mazda/Performance Friction MAZDASPEED3 co-driving with Randy Pobst, and fourth was Mark Pombo (2:11.284; 89.668 mph) in the No. 26 Mazda/Aventura Technologies Mazda MX-5 he shares with Andrew Carbonell. Rounding out the top five was David Thilenius (2:11.341; 89.629 mph) in the No. 74 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si that he shares with points co-leader Lawson Aschenbach.
That's fantastic! Not only pole but more than a half second clear of P2. Wish I was there but I'll be following along. FYI for those who, like me, have to wait to see it on TV: 5/1, 1:00 PM ET, SPEED
If it had been a five lap race it would have been a stellar day but as it was not, things went down hill from there and it ended with one car out and one finishing laps down..... Twas another dismal day for Automatic and RSR...
I have Speed too & have to wait a week. One good thing is I'm an old fart who will forget what I have read about the race by the time it airs. :wink5: Team RSR, keep on plugging. You are getting closer to your goal!
The 197 threw the Supercharger belt on lap 5. The driver was over aggressive on a downshift. It put the car down 3 laps. It finished 16th. The 196's fuel pump quit which is the on going saga of the electrics on this particular car. The entire wiring harness is being replaced as we convert the cars over to a new engine management system that Grand Am recently approved. 198 did not race but will be back for the next race. Lime Rock is next over Memorial day. Randy