Rolex Qualifying: Experience is fastest

[KC]

The overall pole for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has been set by James Weaver for the Dyson Racing Ford-powered Riley & Scott. The car and engine package was not expected to be this fast as they are both evolutionary models of a five year old design. Lozano Brothers built the engines for the veteran team that has taken the Rolex in 1997 and 1998 with this same package.


Weaver is teamed with ALMS and USRRC Champion Elliot Forbes-Robinson, owner Rob Dyson, and CART star Max Papis.

Risi Competizione has taken the outside pole position with their venerable Ferrari 333sp with drives Mimmo Schiaterella, Ralf Kelleners, Alex Caffi, and Allan McNish.

In the hotly contested GTO class, Ron fellows set pole in the new Corvette C5R that he will share with Justin Bell and Chris Kniefel. They sit 3.2 seconds ahead of the Team Oreca Viper of Tommy Archer, Marc Duez, and Vincent Vosse.

Porsche protege Dirk Muller set the pole in GTU in a Porsche 911 GT3R and will team with Porsche Cup champo Lucas Luhr and the sportscar legend Bob Wollek. Second in class is the 911 GT3R of Alex Job Racing driven by Mike Conte, Randy Pobst, and Bruno Lambert.

The final class pole was set by Craig Conway in their American GT (AGT) Chevy Camaro tube-frame chassis. He will etam with Todd Flis, Troy Flis, and Doug Goad.

Of the 90+ entries only 80 will be allowed to make the start. Final qualifying for the rear end of the grid will finish today.

[This message has been edited by KC (edited 04 February 2000).]

[marcus]

Excellent stuff KC...looks like being a great race in all classes...as for the pole team they have got the experience to get them through but I bet that Ferrari styas hot on their heels..the Ferraris driver line up is a quality one so look out for them but I think there might be a surprise come race day and an outsider will win..maybe the caddy ???

[KC]

It could be any of the better can-am teams or even a dark horse because it is the way of endurance racing. Its always good to see the veteran stalwarts do well against the latest and greatest equipment.

[Tuomas]

I have one question. Why is the #3 Corvette is so much faster than the rest of GTO(including ORECA)? Sure, they've made improvements to the car, but 3.2 sec is a substantial difference, especially considering that last year ORECA clearly had the edge.

The new paint job on the Vettes looks appalling, though. I wish they'd just stuck with last year's colours.

[KC]

In hindsight I believe that Hughes de Chaunac and Team Oreca used their experience well. They could have set up the Viper to chase the 'Vette during qualifying, but their speed was representative of the pace they would run at the race. The 'Vette never matched its qualifying lap during the race. The Viper did all race long. Also, the Vipers were carrying an extra weight allotment and much smaller engine restrictors to "even the field". I imagine a lot of this was done to appease Chevrolet and limit the performance of the Viper. It is a tried and proven formula that France and company have employed in NASCAR to keep the manufacturers interested.