Laguna Seca: GT qualifying notes

Cunningham on Speed Gt Pole at Laguna Seca.

MONTEREY, Calif., (September 21, 2002) - Peter Cunningham, of W. Bend, Wis., captured the Woody's Ice pole position today for Sunday's SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, part of the Monterey Sports Car Championship. Johannes van Overbeek, of Danville, Calif., and Michael Galati, of N. Olmstead, Ohio, completed the top three.

Driving the No. 42 RealTime Racing Acura NSX, Cunningham spent the majority of the 20-minute qualifying session out of the top five, struggling to get a clean lap in traffic. With four minutes remaining, Cunningham was able to put together a fast lap of 1:38.188 [82.054 mph], a time that would not be bested for the remainder of the session.

"For the first part of the session, I stayed behind Randy [Pobst], but he seemed to be struggling with his car, which held me up," said Cunningham, who claimed his record 23rd career SPEED World Challenge pole. "After I got into clean air, I concentrated on my driving and got a good lap in late in the session.

Van Overbeek, driving the No. 81 Flextronics/Shoreline/Brocade/Porsche 911 Cup, sat at the top of the time chart for the majority of the session, but was bumped back with Cunningham's quick lap. He will roll off second tomorrow, a starting position he has occupied on three other occasions this season.

Driving the No. 1 Champion Audi S4 Competition, series point leader Galati put together a fast lap of 1:38.503 [81.792 mph], good enough for third on tomorrow's starting grid.

Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., and Justin Marks, of Woodside, Calif., completed the top five in qualifying.

The 26-lap SPEED World Challenge GT race commences tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. eastern time.

-scca pro racing-