Daytona 24 Hours: Weaver’s fourth pole in a row
Britain's James Weaver has won pole position for the Daytona 24 Hours for the fourth year in succession.
The Dyson Riley & Scott driver leapt to the top of the timesheets in the closing minutes of the first of two qualifying sessions with a time nearly two seconds clear of his nearest rival.
The second grid slot was filled by the similar Robinson Racing R&S driven by veteran Jack Baldwin. Only the front row was decided in Thursday's wet session: the remainder of the 80-car grid will not be settled until after Friday's second qualifying session.
Weaver, who shares his Ford-engined car with Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger, said: "The car seems to know its way around here. It's like a slot car; you just stick the front in and off you go. The track was getting quicker and quicker all the time."
Weaver is upbeat about his chances of landing a second victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the opening round of this year's Grand-Am series.
"There's so much luck involved in winning here. We've got the best of everything, so we've got a very good chance."
Robinson, a winner in last year's Grand-Am series, said: "I was just doing my job and trying to keep the car on the black stuff. We've been working really hard and doing lots of testing to make sure we're where we should be."
Third fastest was the new Crawford SSC2K driven by Didier Theys. The
Belgian pipped expatriate Briton Andy Pilgrim in the GTS class Chevrolet Corvette he is sharing with NASCAR stars Dale Earnhardt and his son, Dale Jr.
James Weaver (Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 1m47.381s
Jack Baldwin (Robinson Riley & Scott-Judd MkIII) 1m49.201s
Didier Theys (Doran Crawford-Judd SCC2K) 1m50.090s
Andy Pilgrim (Pratt & Miller Chevrolet Corvette C5-R) 1m50.799s
Ron Fellows (Pratt & Miller Chevrolet Corvette C5-R) 1m51.054s
Norman Simon (Cunningham Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 1m51.605s
Jon Field (Intersport Lola-Judd B2K/10) 1m51.972s
Ralf Kelleners (Risi Ferrari 333SP) 1m52.138s
Elliott Forbes-Robinson (Dyson Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII) 1m54.268s
Scott Schubot Creighton (Lola-Ford B2K/10) 1m55.064s
GT John Heinricy (Morrison Mosler MT900R) 1m56.697s
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