Utah: Autohaus Motorsports qualifying report

O'Connell Qualifies Autohaus for a Second Row Start

TOOELE, Utah, September 10, 2010 - Under beautiful blue skies set against the breathtaking backdrop of Utah's mountains, Johnny O'Connell maneuvered the No. 46 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R around the 15 turn outer course at Miller Motorsports Park to claim a fourth place qualifying spot in tomorrow's season finale of the GRAND-AM Rolex Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Following a black flag early in the qualifying session that brought all the cars through pit lane, O'Connell paced his fastest lap of qualifying at a 1:53.276 placing the Autohaus Camaro in the second row next to Andrew Davis in the No. 57 Stevenson Camaro.

Traffic in the final laps of qualifying prevented O'Connell from improving his time, although the car has been improving each session. "The Autohaus guys have been working really hard all day and after some changes we made following morning practice the car felt a lot more stable," explained O'Connell. "I know we are heading in the right direction and I can't wait to see what we can do tomorrow in the race. It's two hours and forty five minutes; we need to be smart and smooth and we have a car and team that can win."

O'Connell's co-driver Jordan Taylor made the switch from a Mazda RX8 to the Chevrolet Camaro for this final weekend of GT action. "Trying to compare the cars is difficult because they are so different," said Taylor. "I have really enjoyed driving the Camaro, and the car just keeps getting better each session. I had a feeling we would be competitive this weekend, and Johnny's qualifying just confirmed it. I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow."

The No. 46 Camaro will be on track tomorrow morning, Saturday, September 11th, for a final practice before the green flag flies for the season closer. Racing action starts at 2:00 PM EST and will be broadcast live on SPEED TV.

-source: autohaus motorsports