ALMS
Road Atlanta: Highcroft Racing qualifying report
Dayton Qualifies Seventh in Top Class For Tomorrow's Petit Le Mans At Road Atlanta Friday BRASELTON, Ga., Sept. 29 - Duncan Dayton of Danbury, Conn., put the Highcroft Racing Lola EX257 AER No. 9 solidly on the grid for tomorrow's Petit Le ...
Published: Sep 30, 2006, 5:00 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Dayton Qualifies Seventh in Top Class For Tomorrow's Petit Le Mans At Road Atlanta Friday
BRASELTON, Ga., Sept. 29 - Duncan Dayton of Danbury, Conn., put the Highcroft Racing Lola EX257 AER No. 9 solidly on the grid for tomorrow's Petit Le Mans American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race at Road Atlanta Motor Sports Center Friday afternoon, qualifying seventh in the top class, LMP1, and ninth overall in the 28-car field.
Joining Dayton behind the wheel in the 1,000-mile, 10-hour race that will be televised live on SPEED starting at 11:30 a.m. Saturday will be Indy Racing League IndyCar star Vitor Meira of Brasilia, Brazil and Indianapolis, Ind., and the Grand American Rolex Series' Memo Gidley of Novato, Calif. and Sherrills Ford, N.C.
Dayton's best lap in Friday's qualifying session was timed in 1:12.316, which works out to an average speed of 126.445 miles per hour for the 2.540-mile, 12-turn road course. His fastest lap came on his sixth of eight laps in the qualifying session.
The pole for the 1,000-mile, 10-hour race went to Nicolas Minassian in the Creation Autosportif Creation CA06/H-01 Judd No. 88 with a 1:10.829 (129.100 mph).
"We lost a little front aero balance, about 3 percent, which made it push in Turn One and Turn Six," Dayton said after qualifying.
The 25-minute session for the LMP1 and LMP2 cars was interrupted at one point when Butch Leitzinger spun, hit the wall and brought out the red flag. He wasn't hurt and his car was only slightly damaged.
"The red flag hurt us, because we didn't get the run we wanted," Dayton said. "We had been building up our speed and our Dunlop tires were just coming in. When the tires were going to be at their peak window, we had to slow down.
"But I'm really pleased with the job the team is doing," Dayton emphasized. "The set-up is very good, and I'm thrilled to be racing with Memo and Vitor."
Gidley is celebrating his birthday today. In honor of that occasion, the Highcroft crew threw a cream pie in his face during the lunch break. Luckily he took it well.
-credit: highcroft racing
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Road Atlanta: Aston Martin Racing qualifying report
Next article Road Atlanta: Porsche qualifying report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Nicolas Minassian
Top 10: Ranking the best F3000 non-champions
General
General
Top 10: Ranking the best F3000 non-champions
Spectacular season finale: 25 nationalities present for inaugural 24H COTA USA
Endurance
Endurance
24 Hours of Cota USA
Spectacular season finale: 25 nationalities present for inaugural 24H COTA USA
Minassian joins G-Drive for next two ELMS races
European Le Mans
European Le Mans
Spielberg
Minassian joins G-Drive for next two ELMS races
Latest news
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
1 h
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
7 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe