Graf and CytoSport take first pole
CytoSport took its first American Le Mans Series pole at Mosport Park as Klaus Graf beat Dyson's Chris Dyson and Highcroft's Simon Pagenaud in a thrilling qualifying battle
Although Le Mans winner and Porsche factory driver Romain Dumas is in the CytoSport Porsche this weekend in place of injured owner/driver Greg Pickett, the team entrusted regular driver Graf with qualifying duties - and he did not disappoint.
In the opening minutes he swapped pole with Highcroft HPD driver Pagenaud twice before Dyson found more speed in his family team's Lola-Mazda and nosed ahead of them both.
But Graf dug deep and became the only man to break into the 1m06s in the session as he claimed pole halfway through the session by 0.2 seconds over Dyson. The American pushed on trying to regain the spot before having to settle for second when Johnny Mowlem's Autocon Lola stopped in a dangerous place, prompting a red and eventually a chequered flag.
Behind Pagenaud, Elkhart Lake winner Drayson Racing's pole run came to an end as Jonny Cocker could only manage fourth in the Lola coupe.
Gianmaria Bruni gave Risi Ferrari another GT pole but is set to start at the back as the team was forced to change its driver line-up when Jamie Melo was struck down with a stomach virus. Toni Vilander has been brought in from the sister car to partner Bruni instead - the Finn's team-mate Pierre Kaffer having had a massive crash in practice that damaged their 430 GT beyond immediate repair and sent the German to hospital for precautionary checks. Fortunately he escaped injury.
The Risi demotion will hand pole to the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche driven by Jorg Bergmeister in qualifying. Tommy Milner's Rahal Letterman BMW was next up in the session, followed by the Corvette now shared by Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen. A team shake-up for this weekend has seen Magnussen brought into the #4 entry alongside Gavin while Olivier Beretta moves in the opposite direction to join Johnny O'Connell in the #3.
In the one-make divisions, PR1/Mathiason driver Luis Diaz topped LMPC again, and Orbit's Bryce Miller inflicted a rare GTC qualifying defeat on Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time Gap 1. P Dumas/Graf Porsche 1m06.956s 2. P Dyson/Smith Lola-Mazda 1m07.142s + 0.186s 3. P Brabham/Pagenaud HPD 1m07.228s + 0.272s 4. P Drayson/Cocker Lola 1m07.482s + 0.526s 5. P Mowlem/Burgess Lola 1m08.117s + 1.161s 6. PC Gonzalez/Diaz ORECA 1m11.455s + 4.499s 7. PC Montecalvo/Zugel ORECA 1m12.013s + 5.057s 8. PC Jeannette/Julian ORECA 1m12.073s + 5.117s 9. PC Marcelli/Ducote ORECA 1m12.239s + 5.283s 10. PC Tucker/Bouchut ORECA 1m12.260s + 5.304s 11. GT Vilander/Bruni Ferrari 1m17.160s + 10.204s 12. GT Bergmeister/Long Porsche 1m17.461s + 10.505s 13. GT Auberlen/Milner BMW 1m17.491s + 10.535s 14. GT Magnussen/Gavin Corvette 1m17.668s + 10.712s 15. GT Sharp/van Overbeek Ferrari 1m17.726s + 10.770s 16. GT Beretta/O'Connell Corvette 1m17.794s + 10.838s 17. GT Muller/Hand BMW 1m17.841s + 10.885s 18. GT Sellers/Henzler Porsche 1m18.469s + 11.513s 19. GT Murry/Robertson/Robertson Doran Ford 1m18.502s + 11.546s 20. GT Gentilozzi/Goossens Jaguar 1m19.099s + 12.143s 21. GT Brown/Cosmo Ferrari 1m21.771s + 14.815s 22. GT Law/Neiman Porsche 1m21.798s + 14.842s 23. PC Tucker/Wallace ORECA 1m22.081s + 15.125s 24. GTC Miller/Hines Porsche 1m22.495s + 15.539s 25. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen Porsche 1m22.598s + 15.642s 26. GTC Lewis/Aschenbach Porsche 1m22.911s + 15.955s 27. GTC Richard/Lally Porsche 1m23.211s + 16.255s 28. GTC Sweedler/Pagerey Porsche 1m23.324s + 16.368s 29. P Field/Field Lola
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