Raceboy
01-02-2002, 13:20
Belgium's Didier Theys took the pace-setting Doran-Lista Racing Dallara to the pole position for the 40th anniversary Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona last night.
Theys, a sportscar veteran, turned the fastest lap of 125.576mph in the Italian prototype on the 3.56mile road course during the qualifying session, which set the first 35 positions for this weekend's race. Rounding out the top three were the #49 Ascari-Judd piloted by South African Werner Lupberger (125.454mph) and the Crawford-Judd of Jan Lammers (125.061mph).
"I took six laps and my first one was my best one, or I should say, the lap with no traffic," said Theys, who won the pole for the Rolex 24 in 1996 and captured his one win in 1998.
"Every lap after that I had traffic. I could have done much better than I did, but we get the pole. My last lap wasn't very good at all, as I lost quite a bit behind a slower car in the infield."
Lupberger, who shares driving duties at Ascari with Timothy Bell Jr and Harri Toivonen, was thrilled to qualify on the outside pole in the Ascari's first appearance at the Rolex.
"We've got good people who made the right choices and put us on second," he said, "We're also very happy to start our first American race in second place. I'm just hoping everything is going to go much better for us in the race."
Lammers, who shares driving duties with NASCAR icon Tony Stewart and British prototype convert Johnny Mowlem, claimed that the difference in weather conditions between Thursday's qualifying session and the three-day test session earlier this month threw a lot of the teams off course.
"It was different today, and it gave an opportunity for all of us to improvise," he said, "It was a lot hotter during the test and we all ran into a totally different situation from a handling point of view.
"I think the handling [of the Crawford] was as good as we could get it. Under the circumstances, we had a bit of traffic and I think the other guys had that too. But, overall, we're incredibly happy with the starting position - and we have 24 hours to catch the other guys."
Fourth place went to the Jim Matthews-run Riley&Scott shared by the owner, Briton Guy Smith and US legends Scott Sharp and Robby Gordon. The team was credited with the same time as the Dyson Racing R&S piloted by another couple of Britons - James Weaver and Oliver Gavin - along with Butch Leitzinger.
The Risi Competitizione Ferrari 333 SP of Crash.Net's David Brabham, Eric van de Poele, Stefan Johansson and Ralf Kelleners was next up, with the Champion Racing Lola-Porsche not far behind in eighth, split by the second Dyson entry. The top ten was completed by the Robinson Racing R&S and Jon Field's Intersport Lola.
Anthony Lazzaro drove the #8 Rand Racing/Risi Competizione Nissan-Lola to the top qualifying speed in the SportsRacing Prototype II class with a lap of 117.096mph, which earned the 17th starting spot. This left the open-top machine two places behind the top qualifier in the GTS class - the #3 Rocketsports Racing Jaguar of Paul Gentilozzi - whose speed of 118.363mph earned 15th position overall.
Top qualifier in the GT class was Joao Barbosa, who posted a speed of 112.433mph in the #24 Prospective Racing Mosler MT900R, while Irv Hoerr and the #29 Sky Blue Racing Mustang proved to be the top AGT qualifier, earning the 19th position with a speed of 115.504mph. Second fastest AGT qualifier was Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick in the #90 RE/MAX Corvette fielded by Flis Motorsports. Harvick posted a lap of 114.904mph to earn the 22nd starting position for his team.
wiet er iemand iets meer over de andere Belgen ?
Theys, a sportscar veteran, turned the fastest lap of 125.576mph in the Italian prototype on the 3.56mile road course during the qualifying session, which set the first 35 positions for this weekend's race. Rounding out the top three were the #49 Ascari-Judd piloted by South African Werner Lupberger (125.454mph) and the Crawford-Judd of Jan Lammers (125.061mph).
"I took six laps and my first one was my best one, or I should say, the lap with no traffic," said Theys, who won the pole for the Rolex 24 in 1996 and captured his one win in 1998.
"Every lap after that I had traffic. I could have done much better than I did, but we get the pole. My last lap wasn't very good at all, as I lost quite a bit behind a slower car in the infield."
Lupberger, who shares driving duties at Ascari with Timothy Bell Jr and Harri Toivonen, was thrilled to qualify on the outside pole in the Ascari's first appearance at the Rolex.
"We've got good people who made the right choices and put us on second," he said, "We're also very happy to start our first American race in second place. I'm just hoping everything is going to go much better for us in the race."
Lammers, who shares driving duties with NASCAR icon Tony Stewart and British prototype convert Johnny Mowlem, claimed that the difference in weather conditions between Thursday's qualifying session and the three-day test session earlier this month threw a lot of the teams off course.
"It was different today, and it gave an opportunity for all of us to improvise," he said, "It was a lot hotter during the test and we all ran into a totally different situation from a handling point of view.
"I think the handling [of the Crawford] was as good as we could get it. Under the circumstances, we had a bit of traffic and I think the other guys had that too. But, overall, we're incredibly happy with the starting position - and we have 24 hours to catch the other guys."
Fourth place went to the Jim Matthews-run Riley&Scott shared by the owner, Briton Guy Smith and US legends Scott Sharp and Robby Gordon. The team was credited with the same time as the Dyson Racing R&S piloted by another couple of Britons - James Weaver and Oliver Gavin - along with Butch Leitzinger.
The Risi Competitizione Ferrari 333 SP of Crash.Net's David Brabham, Eric van de Poele, Stefan Johansson and Ralf Kelleners was next up, with the Champion Racing Lola-Porsche not far behind in eighth, split by the second Dyson entry. The top ten was completed by the Robinson Racing R&S and Jon Field's Intersport Lola.
Anthony Lazzaro drove the #8 Rand Racing/Risi Competizione Nissan-Lola to the top qualifying speed in the SportsRacing Prototype II class with a lap of 117.096mph, which earned the 17th starting spot. This left the open-top machine two places behind the top qualifier in the GTS class - the #3 Rocketsports Racing Jaguar of Paul Gentilozzi - whose speed of 118.363mph earned 15th position overall.
Top qualifier in the GT class was Joao Barbosa, who posted a speed of 112.433mph in the #24 Prospective Racing Mosler MT900R, while Irv Hoerr and the #29 Sky Blue Racing Mustang proved to be the top AGT qualifier, earning the 19th position with a speed of 115.504mph. Second fastest AGT qualifier was Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick in the #90 RE/MAX Corvette fielded by Flis Motorsports. Harvick posted a lap of 114.904mph to earn the 22nd starting position for his team.
wiet er iemand iets meer over de andere Belgen ?