Grand-Am

Lime Rock: GM Racing GT qualifying report

Banner Pontiac GXP.R To Start Third At Lime Rock GXP.R Racers To Line-up Third, Fourth and Fifth Kelly Collins qualified the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R in third position for Monday's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown ...

Edited: May 27, 2007, 6:25 AM

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Banner Pontiac GXP.R To Start Third At Lime Rock
GXP.R Racers To Line-up Third, Fourth and Fifth

Kelly Collins qualified the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R in third position for Monday's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve GT Classic at Lime Rock Park. Leighton Reese in his No. 06 team GXP.R will start along side Collins in fourth with the Racers Edge GXP.R, qualified by Drew Staveley, starting one row behind in fifth.

Lime Rock Park is the shortest track on the calendar, 1.53 miles in length and only 7-turns. The GT cars are turning laps in less than 54-seconds, near oval track times. Local rules prohibit racing on Sunday, so the green flag will drop at 1:45 p.m. EDT on Monday.

After leading the time sheet on Friday, Kelly Collins turned in a time 54.005 to put the No. 07 Banner GXP.R on the second row. The duo posted the fastest practice time of the day on Friday, but could not back it up in qualifying.

"We had a great car right off of the trailer," Collins said. "The first practice I was really pumped for the weekend. Maybe we dialed ourselves out a little. I gave it all I had in qualifying, taking the car in deep and flying down through the last turn. It was the first time we put on new sneakers [tires] all weekend, so I wasn't quite sure how far I could take it. We do know that we have a great car on used tires and that will definitely benefit us in the race on Monday."

In the No. 06 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R Leighton Reese will start right next to his teammate on the second row. A time of 54.059 was good for fourth place on the day and a high water mark in qualifying for the 06 car on the year.

"The car is really dialed in here," Reese said. "We put new tires on it for the first time in qualifying and that helped us improve on our time. We have been practicing on old rubber from Laguna and that has provided us the opportunity to set the car for race conditions. The pole would have been nice, but we want to go away on Monday afternoon with the first win for this new GXP.R. With the short lap and fast times, our crew will have to on their toes with the strategy, one cough and you go down a lap here."

In the Racers Edge Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R, Drew Staveley qualified the fire engine red No. 30 in fifth. The Californian will start right behind his fellow Pontiac competitors on the third row. Co-driver Mark Pavan has come up to speed quickly in his first visit to the track nestled in the Berkshire Hills.

"The 30 car is the best it has been all year," Pavan said. "The last turn here is great, it is fast and with the way our car is set-up it is really fun. Yesterday we had some oversteer, but the guys have engineered that out and our times are right up there in the top five. We are looking to have another strong finish like the team had at Laguna last week."

The Rolex Series GT race from Lime Rock Park will be televised, tape delayed, on SPEED Channel on Sunday, June 10 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

-credit: gm racing

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