Porsche, BMW Duke it Out for Top Grid Slots as GT Points Battle
Continues to Boil in Canada at the GT3 Grand Prix at Mosport
Qualifying session indicate
tough race tomorrow as the BMW V8 entries rise to the top of the GT timing
sheets
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada. - Aug. 18, 2001 - While hoping to be
closer based on previous practice times, the GT class Porsches wound up
having to play second fiddle to the V8 powered BMW specials of both the
Schnitzer BMW and PTG teams in today's final qualifying for the Gran
Tourismo 3 Grand Prix at Mosport to be run tomorrow afternoon.
The qualification charts reflected what the top Porsche teams already
knew; that the V8 BMWs had yet to show all they had to show. Despite only
being able to qualify fourth, Randy Pobst, as the pilot of the fastest
Porsche, was up-beat about his chances. "I don't just like this
place," said Pobst of the historic circuit located outside of
Toronto, "I love this place!" "With its fast sweeping
turns, diving first corner, and tons of elevation change, its like Road
Atlanta, only much faster," he added. "It really separates
the men from the boys."
The session held few surprises with the BMWs controlling the pace from the
beginning. The number 22 Alex Job Racing, McKenna Porsches of Pobst and
Christian Menzel worked hard to get close to the BMWs, being less than 1.2
seconds adrift of the class pole winning car of J.J. Lehto and Jorg
Muller. It also marks the first time this year that the Number 22 has out
qualified the number 23 team car of Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen.
Another limiter on the Porsche's speed was the new track surface.
"They've repaved turns 1 thru 4 and while it's faster, it seems to be
coming up in some spots," explained Pobst. "But overall, I'm
really happy with the car. We've made big improvements. We are actually a
whole second faster in qualifying than we were last year! With any luck,
we'll be right in the thick of things tomorrow."
The GT 3 Grand Prix at Mosport will be telecast live on the NBC television
network starting at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday, August 19
(check local listings for the exact time and channel in your area).
The race, along with qualifying sessions, will be broadcast live starting
August 18 on the American Le Mans Radio Network, which can be accessed on
the Web at www.americanlemans.com.
That same American Le Mans Series Web site will also have live timing and
scoring during qualifying and the race event.
The official Porsche Web site - www.porsche.com
- will have qualifying information on the GT 3 Grand Prix at Mosport for
all the Porsches entered, and will file stories and photos during and
after the race. Porsche Web site users should choose "North
America" on the home page when prompted to choose a country, then
choose "motorsports," then "motorsport news" to find
the ALMS updates.
Other Web sites that will follow the overall event include the American Le
Mans site mentioned above, the ON TRACK ONLINE site, (www.ontrackonline.com),
TotalMotorsport (www.totalmotorsport.com);
The Race Site (www.theRaceSite.com),
the Speedvision site (www.speedvision.com),
Motorsport.com (www.motorsport.com)
and the CompuServe site (www.motorsportsforum.com).
Final GT Class Qualifying
1. Lehto/J. Muller
BMW M3 GTR
1:18.840
2. D. Muller/Ekblom
BMW M3 GTR
1:18.873
3. Stuck/Said
BMW M3 GTR
1:19.428
4. Pobst/Menzel
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:20.099
5. Luhr/Maassen
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:20.354
6. Bernhard/Mowlem/Petersen Porsche 911 GT3 RS
1:21.827
7. Wallinder/Burgess
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:22.042
8. Pabst/Wankum
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:25.209
9. Willingham/Wars
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 1:26.381
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