Porsche Sears Point qualifying

SONOMA, Calif. - July 21, 2001 - As projected from the previous practice sessions, the four BMW M3 V-8 racers took the first four positions on the GT grid for tomorrow's American Le Mans Series X-Factor Grand Prix of Sonoma.

Fifth in the qualifying session was the #22 Alex Job Racing McKenna Porsche 911 GT3 RS with Randy Pobst at the wheel, 1.6 seconds behind the leading BMW. The #23 Alex Job Racing McKenna Porsche 911 GT3 RS driven by Lucas Luhr was sixth, 0.5-of-a-second behind Pobst.

Earlier on Saturday in practice, Timo Bernhard in the #30 Petersen Motorsports Porsche was clipped by the #51 Panoz, causing a wheel on the Porsche to collapse and damage the front bodywork and suspension. The damage was mainly cosmetic, however, and the team fixed the car in time for qualifying. Also, the #23 Alex Job Racing McKenna Porsche lost its transmission in the final practice , but the team replaced the unit in time for qualifying.

Other top Porsche qualifiers included the #66 Buckler/McQuarrie Porsche (seventh), the #30 Berhard/Mowlem Porsche (eighth), the #52 Collin/Burgess Porsche (ninth), the #67 Rice/Corcutt Porsche (tenth), the #69 Wankum/Pabst Porsche (11th), and the #15 Wars/Willingham Porsche (12th).

The X-Factor Grand Prix of Sonoma will be telecast live on the NBC television network starting at 4:00 PM Eastern time on Sunday, July 22 (check local listings for the exact time in different time zones).  The race, along with qualifying sessions starting
July 21, will be broadcast live on the Le Mans Radio Network, which can be accessed on the Web at www.americanlemans.com.  That same American Le Mans Series Web site will also have live timing and scoring during the race event.

The official Porsche Web site - www.porsche.com - has qualifying information on the X-Factor Grand Prix of Sonoma for all the Porsches entered, and will have stories and photos during and after the race. Porsche Web site users should choose "North America" on the home page when prompted to choose a country, then choose "motorsports," then "motorsport news" to find the ALMS updates.

Other Web sites that will follow the overall event include the American Le Mans site mentioned above, the ON TRACK ONLINE site, (www.ontrackonline.com), The Race Site (www.theRaceSite.com), the Speedvision site (www.speedvision.com), Motorsport.com (www.motorsport.com), TotalMotorsport (www.totalmotorsport.com) and the CompuServe site (www.motorsportsforum.com).

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X-FACTOR GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA - Final GT class qualifying Car # Driver Car Time

43     Ekblom/Muller      BMW Motorsport M3 V-8  1:33.783
10     Auberlen/Jonnson   PTG BMW M3 V-8         1:33.910
 6     Stuck/Said         PTG BMW M3 V-8         1:34.149
42     Lehto/Muller       BMW Motorsport M3 V-8  1:34.448
22     Pobst/Menzel       McKenna Porsche Alex Job Racing 911 GT3 RS 1:35.303
23     Luhr/Maassen       McKenna Porsche Alex Job Racing 911 GT3 RS 1:35.880
66     Buckler/McQuarrie  The Racers Group Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:36.208
30     Bernhard/Mowlem    White Lightning/Petersen Motorsports Westward Ho! Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:36.825
69     Wankum/Pabst       Kyser Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:36.942
52     Burgess/Collin     Seikel Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:40.402
67     Rice/Orcutt        The Racers Group Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:40.755
15     Willingham/Wars    Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R  1:44.121

-Porsche