SRO America
Road Atlanta II: GT qualifying notes
Fitzgerald looks to defend his crown, snares pole for Speed GT race at Road Atlanta. BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 16, 2003) -- Defending race winner Mike Fitzgerald, of Phoenix, Ariz., took a major step toward sweeping both Road Atlanta rounds by ...
Published: Oct 17, 2003, 3:26 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Fitzgerald looks to defend his crown, snares pole for Speed GT race at Road Atlanta.
BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 16, 2003) -- Defending race winner Mike Fitzgerald, of Phoenix, Ariz., took a major step toward sweeping both Road Atlanta rounds by qualifying on the pole for Friday's SCCA Speed World Challenge GT Round Nine race as part of Le Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., qualified second and Bill Auberlen, of Hermosa Beach, Calif., will start third on the grid.
Fitzgerald, who failed to turn a fast lap early in qualifying, spent most of the session, along with the rest of the Speed GT field, on pit road because of a red flag to extract rookie Keith Videtto's Chevrolet Corvette from the turn three gravel. Nervous, and next to last on the time sheet, Fitzgerald was concerned that time would expire on the session before he had the opportunity turn a solid qualifying lap. With only five minutes remaining in the 20-minute session, Speed GT qualifying resumed and Fitzgerald needed only one lap to find his way to the pole position.
Driving the No. 22 Coors Light/1st Interstate/3R Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Fitzgerald set a new Road Atlanta SCCA Speed GT qualifying record with his lap of 1:28.479 (103.346 mph) on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit. This is Fitzgerald's first GT pole of the 2003 season.
"I had a flier going early and Randy Pobst and I both caught a slower car in turn 10," Fitzgerald said of his early qualifying attempt. "I new it would mess up my next lap, so I came in the pits. When I went back out, I saw a black Corvette crash behind me just after coming out of the pits. I knew I might only get one lap, so I went for it, but a car came out of the pits right in front of me. It was frustrating, and then we had the red flag. I was second to last, so I pulled right to the front of the line, behind my teammate Phil McClure and we had enough time at the end to put in a flier.
"The car was just phenomenal. We're 150 lbs heavier now than we were in June and we're going faster with the same motor. That's how good this crew is. They will be drinking the Coors Light tonight, celebrating."
Pobst, who had the fastest combined practice times Wednesday, qualified his No. 2 Champion Audi Racing Audi RS 6 on the outside of row one with a time of 1:28.837 (102.930 mph).
Auberlen hopes to clinch the Speed GT Drivers' Championship Friday, and if he does, he will have to do it from the third spot on the grid. Auberlen drove his No. 7 BMW Team PTG BMW M3 to the pole position for the June Road Atlanta race and finished a season worst 10th.
Phil McClure, of Floris, Iowa, makes his return to the track more than 10 weeks after he sustained a concussion following an accident at Road America Aug. 3. McClure was medically cleared to race last week and had a good showing in his first qualifying session since the accident. He qualified his Coors Original/Aggregate Industries/3R Racing fourth for Friday's race. David Farmer, of Albemarle, N.C., qualified the Metric Chemical Chevrolet Corvette Z06 a season-high fifth.
Fifteen drivers qualified faster than the old qualifying record set by Auberlen for the race in June.
Friday's SCCA Speed World Challenge GT Championship Round Nine race is set to make its standing start at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). For more information, including live timing and scoring, please visit www.world-challenge.com.
-scca pro racing[
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
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Watkins Glen International 2004 schedule
Next article Road Atlanta II: BMW Touring Car qualifying notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Randy Pobst
Davidson Racing Norma wins the 25 Hours of Thunderhill
Endurance
Endurance
25 Hours of Thunderhill
Davidson Racing Norma wins the 25 Hours of Thunderhill
Six hours remain at Thunderhill
Endurance
Endurance
Six hours remain at Thunderhill
NASCAR driver Kurt Busch among entries for 25 Hours of Thunderhill
Endurance
Endurance
NASCAR driver Kurt Busch among entries for 25 Hours of Thunderhill
Latest news
NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
8 min
NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks
NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
41 min
NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more
Rafa Camara to debut in F1 Brazil GP as Esteban Ocon out at Haas
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
58 min
Rafa Camara to debut in F1 Brazil GP as Esteban Ocon out at Haas
The biggest controversies of Carson Hocevar's chaotic 2026 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 1 h
The biggest controversies of Carson Hocevar's chaotic 2026 NASCAR Cup season
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
Subscribe