PRUETT ON TOP IN GLEN QUALIFYING; GIVES LEXUS THIRD 2009 POLE
WATKINS GLEN, NY (June 5, 2009) – Scott Pruett was the fastest qualifier for Saturday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen to give Lexus its third pole in the last four Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series races.
After recording a time below the track record in the morning practice, Pruett quickly jumped up to the top spot in qualifying and stayed in the catbird seat throughout most of the 15-minute session. He improved his own pole speed on three separate laps in registering a final time seven-tenths quicker than Alex Gurney, who will start on the outside of the front row. The pole is a record 12th Daytona Prototype pole for Pruett – and the 27th for Lexus since entering Grand-Am competition in 2004.
Pruett will co-drive with Memo Rojas, a two-time pole winner himself this season, in Saturday’s six-hour event. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 2:15 p.m. EDT, with SPEED providing live coverage in two different segments. The first segment will run from 2-4 p.m. EDT and the network will then show the final two and a half hours from 6-8:30 p.m.
Notes:
- With today’s pole position, the Lexus-powered Ganassi team has been on the front row in each of the last four races.
- Lexus will be looking for its 24th win in the series since 2004 on Sunday and its’ second consecutive Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen victory. In addition to last year’s triumph by the Ganassi/Lexus team with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, the squad also won the 2004 Six Hours with Pruett co-driving along with Max Papis.
- Lexus will be attempting to win its sixth endurance race out of the last 11 run in Grand-Am competition on Saturday. Lexus’ previous 10 endurance races include three Rolex 24 victories, last year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen win and a nine-hour triumph at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. In addition, Lexus-powered cars also have registered three seconds and a pair of fourth-place finishes during that 10-race span.
Lexus Starting Positions:
#01 Pruett/Rojas 1st
Scott Pruett: “We came off the truck fast yesterday and that’s allowed us to just fine tune the car without having to worry about any major changes. When the car is this good, it’s not just the drivers, but a total team effort that also includes the Telmex Ganassi guys and Lexus. We’re in catch-up mode in the points right now, so now we just have to go out and try to win as many races as possible.”
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