Grand-Am
VIR: Bob Stallings Racing qualifying report
The streak lives: Fogarty's VIR flyer secures fourth-straight front-row start for GAINSCO team DANVILLE, Va. (April 28, 2007) -- He did it again. In qualifying today for Sunday's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series VIR 400k, Jon Fogarty clocked his ...
Published: Apr 29, 2007, 4:57 AM
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The streak lives: Fogarty's VIR flyer secures fourth-straight front-row start for GAINSCO team
DANVILLE, Va. (April 28, 2007) -- He did it again. In qualifying today for Sunday's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series VIR 400k, Jon Fogarty clocked his third consecutive outside pole -- and the fourth-straight front row start for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. Piloting the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac-powered Riley, which he'll drive with Alex Gurney on Sunday, Fogarty turned a 1:45.153 lap of the 3.27-mile VIRginia International Raceway, at an average speed of 111.951 mph. In the four Rolex Series races thus far this season, the GAINSCO Pontiac has yet to start worse than second.
"It's great to be on the front row again," Fogarty said. "The GAINSCO Auto Insurance team put in a lot of work in the month we had off, and it paid dividends. We showed up pretty quick yesterday and made just a few tweaks to stay with the track today. There's, I think, even a bit of room for improvement, but as far as we can tell we're in good shape for tomorrow. We've got plenty of Pontiac power, the car's handling well and Alex and I are very comfortable at this track."
Fogarty's final, fastest flying lap was turned as his Hoosier tires were going off -- Jon had an outside-pole time already, but the gap was narrow, and he wanted to take a shot at Colin Braun's pole lap.
"I let it all hang out," the two-time Atlantic champ admitted. "Colin did a 45-flat, and I was sure I could improve but I wasn't 100 percent sure I could get down there. I came really close and didn't leave much on the table, so I've got to be pretty happy with that lap. Still, Alex has got me 1-0 on poles this year and I'd like to even that score."
The strong qualifying performance only bolstered Gurney's confidence in the GAINSCO team's ability to perform on-track. With 77 grueling laps of the winding, high-speed road course ahead, he believes the 99 car could be one of four or five which break away from the pack and set the pace.
"Jon is doing an awesome job in qualifying, and what he did today says a lot about our car and our team. Everyone's doing their job," Gurney said. "We're in the same position we were in at Mexico City (where the team scored its first-ever Rolex Series victory) and hopefully we'll end up with the same result."
Team owner Bob Stallings was once again stoked about his team's combined effort to once again put the No. 99 in position to win a Rolex Series race. But if a win isn't in the cards, Stallings wants the GAINSCO team on the podium, to gain precious points in the chase for the Rolex Series title.
"Jon Fogarty has done absolutely an awesome job in qualifying this year, and what we're looking to do is get a podium out of this for the GAINSCO team and get ourselves back into the points fight. Staying out of trouble is absolutely paramount. No mistakes," Stallings said. "We've got a quick car once again and that makes me so proud of this team. Every single person here did their job -- the car was ready, Kyle (Brannan, team engineer) nailed the setup and Alex and Jon gave great input. It all came together."
-credit: bsr
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