Laguna Seca: Lexus qualifying report

NEGRI EARNS SECOND IN LAGUNA QUALIFYING RACE; PUTS LEXUS ON FRONT ROW

TORRANCE, Calif. (May 6, 2006) -- After registering the second-fastest time of the final practice to start second, Oswaldo Negri went on to earn his second runner-up finish of the season in Saturday's full-points paying qualifying race at Laguna Seca and put his #60 Flight Options Lexus-Riley on the front row for Sunday's Grand American Rolex Sports CarSeriesmain eventat the Road & Track 250.

In Saturday's race, Negri hounded the winning entry of Patrick Long throughout the half-hour event, closing to within less than a half-a-second at one point, but fell just 0.940-seconds short of his first Daytona Prototype victory. With the second-place finish, Negri and teammate Mark Patterson moved into fifth-place in the series points race. In addition, he earned the team's second consecutive front-row start at Laguna after winning the pole a year ago.

Negri led all three Lexus-powered prototypes into the top-10 as Scott Pruett earned a sixth-place finish in the #01 CompUSA Lexus-Riley and Mike Borkowski notched a 10th-place finish in his Mears Motor Coach Riley.

Sunday's Road & Track 250 will be televised live on SPEED at 3 p.m. with a replay on Monday, May 8 at 12 p.m. Oswaldo Negri, #60 Flight Options Lexus-Riley: "The start was good, everyone was very aggressive but clean. I was just trying to pressure the Porsche into making a mistake, but unfortunately he did a really good job and never made one. It's a good finish and I'm really happy to get the points for Michael Shank Racing. Mark (Patterson) is even faster than he was here last year, and I know he's going to do a fantastic job for us tomorrow."

Mike Borkowksi, #6 Mears Motor Coach Lexus-Riley: "I had a good run at the start, but one of the guys went off ahead of me and then came right back onto the track, so I had to check up and I just got freight trained. So I had to work just to get back up to tenth, and we just ran out of laps to make up any more ground. But the car is good, and I know Antoine (Bessette) will be able to make the most of a top-10 start tomorrow."

Scott Pruett, #01 CompUSA Lexus-Riley: "The car was just really loose-in and loose-off the corners. It seemed like everyone got so jammed up at the start that we couldn't go anywhere. It's tough to get off to a good start when you're boxed in like that. So as a result, we were beating and banging on each other in the pack while the guys who started out front got to stretch their legs a bit. It's a tough deal, but we made the most of it, and we'll be ready to challenge them in the race tomorrow."

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