Schiattarella snatches Atlanta pole

second round of the American Le Mans Series, from pole position after heset a new lap record for the circuit.

The Team Rafanelli driver's time of 1:12.578 shaded Panoz LMP Spyder pilot
David Brabham to pole by just two tenths of a second.

"This is the first time I have driven this car, so it was very challenging
for me," said Schiattarella. "We had a few problems with the rain and with
a gearbox on Thursday, but we worked at the car and it was very good for
the qualifying session."

Brabham, who partnered the Italian in the Simtek team in Formula 1, had one
last shot at pole in the Panoz LMP Spyder, but ran wide at Turn 14 and
couldn't improve on his time.

"I think I could have done it, but I was out of luck," he said. "But this
is still a great debut for our new car. I made two stops during the
qualifying session to make changes and it felt good on the last run."

The GTS class pole was retained by the Porsche 911 Turbo driven by Martin
and Melanie Snow and Kelly Collins. The squad will start the race from 21st
place overall after they set a time of 1:23.968.

Cort Wagner and Dirk Muller ended the BMW M3 domination of the GT class
with a time of 1:26.225, which gave them pole by just six thousandths of a
second from the M3 driven by Hans Stuck and Boris Said.

The Grand Prix at Road Atlanta will start at 1400 EST tomorrow (Sunday).

GRAND PRIX AT ROAD ATLANTA
QUALIFYING TOP 10
1. Eric Van Der Poele/Mimo Schiattarella, Rafanelli Riley & Scott MkIII
Ford, 1:12.578

2. Eric Bernard/David Brabham, Panoz LMP Spyder Ford, 1:12.776

3. James Weaver/Andy Wallace, Dyson Riley & Scott MkIII Ford, 1:13.817

4. Max Angelelli/Didier de Radigues, Doyle Risi Ferrari 333SP, 1:13.886

5. Didier Theys/Mauro Baldi, Doran Ferrari 333SP, 1:13.596

6. Wayne Taylor/Alex Caffi, Doyle Risi Ferrari 333SP, 1:13.970

7. Johnny O'Connell/Jan Magnussen, Panoz GTR-1 Ford, 1:14.148

8. Elliott Forbes-Robinson/Butch Leizinger, Dyson Riley & Scott MkIII Ford,
1:14.280

9. Scott Maxwell/Harri Toivonen, Multimatic Lola B98/10 Ford, 1:14.550

10. George Robinson/Jack Baldwin, Robinson Riley & Scott MkIII Chevy,
1:14.677