Grand-Am

SCC: Martini on pole for Daytona 250

Two track records fall during qualifying, DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 30, 2003) -- Brent Martini will start the ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Two track records fall during qualifying,

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 30, 2003) -- Brent Martini will start the #81 G&W Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup in the pole position on Friday for the Grand-Am Cup Series Daytona 250. While Martini's 2:00.628 lap in 106.453 mph was slightly slower than the 2:00.391 lap recorded by Robert Julien in the #119 Kolter Property Porsche of Doncaster Racing, an infraction by the team resulted in its loss of the pole position.

Grand American rules state that all qualifying driver names must be submitted prior to the qualifying session. The failure to submit both qualifying driver names for Doncaster's pair of Porsches resulted in the #119 car receiving the 44th position on the grid, while its sister car, the #7 Porsche that clocked the third fastest time, will start in 45th place.

The #18 Ajilon Consulting Porsche of TPC Racing will start Friday's race in the outside pole position. Driver Michael Levitas turned a 2:01.978 lap in 105.068 mph during qualifying.

The #46 Utility Supply Co. Firebird of Michael Baughman Racing grabbed the Grand Sport II class pole during qualifying. Driver Brett Shanaman broke the class qualifying record with his 2:07.562 lap in 100.469 mph, shaving a half second off the record set by Charles Espenlaub at the Daytona Finale last season.

"These cars haven't been run in about a year and a half. We did a lot of work over the winter to get them race-ready again, so this was our first opportunity to show what the car really could do," said Shanaman. "I got lucky - I got a good tow and got in a perfect lap. It just all happened at once when the tires were perfect."

Ian James also set a new track record in the Sport Touring I class. The Englishman clocked a 2:12.592 at 96.657 mph in the #2 Team Lexus IS300, taking nearly a full second off Pete Halsmer's record.

"I rolled out of the pits, came by and took the green, did one lap and it was good enough to take the pole. We've done some work on the cars over the winter and they're really going well. Hopefully, it bodes well for a great race," said James.

Bill Fenton will lead the Sport Touring II class to the green flag during Friday's Daytona 250. Fenton posted a 2:25.424 lap at 88.129 mph in the #27 Southern Auto Auction Acura Integra LS of Bill Fenton Motorsports.

The Grand-Am Cup Daytona 250 is part of the 41st Rolex 24 At Daytona event weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Jan. 30 - Feb. 2. Tickets for Friday's Daytona 250 can be purchased at the gate, and tickets for the entire event weekend are available by calling the Speedway ticket office at 386-253-RACE or online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com. Additional information about the Grand-Am Cup Series is available online at www.grandamerican.com.

-garra-

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article SCC: Exciting battle set for season in Grand Sport II

Next article Christian Fittipaldi pronto para as 24 Horas de Daytona

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

2027 Winter Series calendar: Three series across five circuits

General

Misc General 13 min

2027 Winter Series calendar: Three series across five circuits

Ducati says Aprilia “can do whatever they want” amid team order talks in MotoGP

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

35 min

Ducati says Aprilia “can do whatever they want” amid team order talks in MotoGP

Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

57 min

Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy

MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

3 h

MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice

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