McNish takes provisional pole at Sears Point

Allan McNish has taken provisional pole - and a new lap record - for the Grand Prix of Sonoma, third round of the 2000 American Le Mans Series.

Jul 22, 2000, 11:19 AM

The Scot hussled the Audi R8 he shares with Rinaldo Capello to a best time of 1m22.006s at Sears Point in California.

His average speed of 110.626mph was more than half a mile an hour faster than the previous track record, set by JJ Lehto in a BMW V12 LMR last year.

"It was a bit of a surprise that the car was this fast out of the box, because it was designed for Le Mans," said McNish. "The high-speed sectors of this track favour us, but the Panoz and BMWs may be faster in the slower corners."

David Brabham has provisionally take the second slot on the front row of the grid in the Panoz Roadster S he shares with Jan Magnussen with a time of 1m22.371s.

Emanuele Pirro was third fastest in another Audi R8, just three thousandths of a second slower than Brabham.

Dodge Viper driver Karl Wendlinger set provisional pole in the GTS class with a time of 1m32.779s, 11th fastest overall. And PTG BMW M3 ace Brian Cunningham went quickest in the GT class with a time of 1m36.145s.