Daytona 24 Hours: Kelleners fastest, but third...
The lone Ferrari 333SP taking part in this year's Daytona 24 Hours headed second qualifying for the US endurance classic. Ralf Kelleners jumped to the top of the timesheets in the dying minutes of Friday's rain-affected 45-minute session in his Risi Competizione entry.
The German's time, the fastest of the weekend so far, only secured him a spot on the second row. The first two qualifying positions were locked in after first qualifying on Thursday, which means that James Weaver will start from the pole for the third year in succession.
Kelleners, who counts Allan McNish and David Brabham among his team mates, said: "We've ended up fastest, but we're not on pole, which is a shame. Today was all about getting a clear lap as the track got faster. We've proved that we've got a well-balanced car that should be quick and easy to drive in the race."
Second fastest was the Intersport Lola-Judd B2K/10 driven by team owner Jon Field. The American was fastest for much of the session, but his efforts to improve on Kelleners' time were halted by the chequered flag.
"I'm disappointed again," said the American, who shares with brother Joel and son Clint, and Swede Carl Rosenblad. "I managed to improve in traffic on my first lap, but I didn't get another chance."
Elliott Forbes-Robinson was third fastest in the Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII he shares with Champ Car star Max Papis, team boss Rob Dyson and Swede Nic Jonsson. Fourth was Dorsey Schroeder in Champion Racing's Lola-Porsche B2K/10, while German Norman Simon end up fifth in another Ford-powered R&S.
Fastest in the GTS division was the best of the two Multimatic-run Porsche 911 GT1 Evos in the race. Scott Maxwell eclipsed the best time of the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R driven by fellow Canadian Ron Fellows.
Top GT car was the brand new Mosler MT900R driven by former Italian Formula 3 front-runner Joao Barbosa.
The race starts at 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT) on Saturday. Autosport.com will bring you a halfway report and a full race report from the Florida endurance classic.
1 Ralf Kelleners (Risi Ferrari 333SP) 1m41.118s
2 Jon Field (Intersport Lola-Judd B2K/10) 1m41.697s
3 Elliott Forbes-Robinson (Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 1m42.919s
4 Dorsey Schroeder (Champion Lola-Porsche B2K/10) 1m43.444s
5 Norman Simon (Bok Akin Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 1m44.640s
6 Scott Schubot Creighton (Lola-Ford B2K/10) 1m44.767s
7 Jeret Schroeder (TRV Riley & Scott-Chevrolet MkIII) 1m44.857s
8 Gualter Salles (Konrad Lola-Ford B2K/10) 1m45.689s
9 Didier Theys (Doran Crawford-Judd SCC2K) 1m46.477s
10/GTS Scott Maxwell (Multimatic Porsche 911 GT1 Evo) 1m46.484s
GT Joao Barbosa (Morrison Mosler MT900R) 1m52.346s
1 James Weaver (Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 1m47.381s
2 Jack Baldwin (Robinson Riley & Scott-Judd MkIII) 1m49.201s
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