Gurney on Daytona 24 hours pole

Gurney set a time of 1:43.475, a new record for a Daytona Prototype at the venue. He did so in the last of his five laps during the first qualifying session of the weekend, which has set the top 20 places of the starting grid for the race.

"Well, it's a really big thrill and it means a lot," Gurney said. "There are so many stars, so many good drivers, and good teams. I feel like I've come a long way as a driver."

"This would be the crown jewel to win. Obvioulsy qualifying doesn't really matter that much - it's more for bragging rights. We're happy with that for the next day or so."

Alex's father Dan Gurney, won the inaugural endurance event at Daytona, a three-hour sports car race, in 1962.

Alex shares driving of the No. 99 Pontiac Riley with Jon Fogarty, Jimmy Vasser and Bob Stallings.

Before Gurney jumped to the top of the timesheets, Max Angelelli, who won the race in 2005, was on pole in his No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley.

He had recovered from an earlier off in turn one, which he claims made him a bit cautious afterwards.

"I braked in the same spot I normally do but I didn't recognize that there was some standing water," the Italian said. "I went over the water, I lost the car and went straight."

"In a way I'm pleased, I'm happy because we're in the first row, but on the other hand I'm very pissed off, beacuse after that I was very careful on braking and it's not really my style. I think I lost a little bit of time everywhere because of being cautious."

Angelelli teams up with sports-car veteran Wayne Taylor, four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jeff Gordon and Jan Magnussen.

The qualifying session went under full-course yellow after four minutes, when Brazilian Oswaldo Negri, who had been fastest in the previous pratice, crashed going into turn one.

The 02 Ganassi car, the defending champion of the event, qualified ninth driven by Scott Dixon, while the sister 01 car, oddly qualified by Scott Pruett and not Juan Pablo Montoya, lined up thirteenth.

The final qualifying session for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona takes place Friday to determine the rest of the starting line-up.

The race starts Saturday at 1:30 PM Eastern Time (6:30 PM GMT).