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2013 Daytona 24: Park Place Motorsports: Rolex 24 At Daytona Qualifying Report
The No. 73 Racing4Research Porsche GT3 for Park Place Motorsports (PPM) will start the 51st Rolex 24 At Daytona Saturday from the outside of the GT-class second row after GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series qualifying Thursday afternoon at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
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The No. 72 Vess Energy Services Porsche GT3 for PPM will start from the outside of the GT-class 15th row.
Patrick Long, co-driving the Racing4Research Porsche with Spencer Pumpelly, Patrick Lindsey, Jason Hart and Daniel Graeff, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 48.137 seconds at 118.516 mph around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn superspeedway road circuit. It was good for fourth-fastest among 34 car-and-driver combinations in the GT class that will take the green flag Saturday for the traditional, season-opening, twice-around-the-clock endurance marathon.
“It’s tricky,” said Long, the American factory Porsche driver who scored a victory at the 2009 Rolex 24. “The GT fields are so full these days that it’s really about getting that everything to fall into place at the optimum time – your tire pressures, the ability to get a good little slip stream or a tow and, at the same time, avoid getting blocked by guys who are trying to get situated or up to speed ahead of you. We almost got it all aligned, but the real positive emotion is that we had a really challenging day up until qualifying and our run got the train back on the track.
To have a top-five starting position is a huge bonus, but we are mostly happy about getting things back situated where we were at the Roar Before the 24. We definitely have a positive outlook for Saturday and Sunday. They say you learn a lot about somebody when things aren’t going well, and it was great to see everybody kept their cool and we worked together and pulled things back together. John Horton, our engineer, was certainly digging deep on setup, and he got it all right where we wanted it to be. We even discussed throwing qualifying mentality out and just tuning on the car, and John said ‘No, no. I’ve got this. We’re gonna roll the dice and get what we need.’ And we did. So, we’re happy. I’m glad he took the initiative and said, ‘Let’s keep going.’”
Jean-Francois Dumoulin, the veteran Canadian road racer who’s co-driving the No. 72 Vess Energy Services Porsche GT3 with Mike Vess, Grant Phipps, Chuck Cole and Mike Skeen, turned a fast lap of 1:51.071 at 115.386 mph. It was good for 30th in the GT class.
“We got out there and had a pretty good session,” said Dumoulin, who is a two-time Rolex 24 winner – 2004 in the SGS class and 2007 in the GT class. “It was important to get out there and try to put the best lap down we could to try and have a positive outcome for our starting point. The last lap I ran was the fastest during the session. We were able to make some adjustments during the session with the sway bar. I caught some traffic during the middle (of the session), but the end was much better as it was clear and I was able to get a cleaner run. Tonight, everyone will take turns for night practice. It’s important to get everyone more track time and rotate each driver. It’s good to get everyone behind the wheel so they will be comfortable during the race.”
The top-five in GT-class qualifying for the 51st Rolex 24 At Daytona are:
1. Konrad Motorsport (No. 32 Porsche GT3 Cup) with Nick Tandy, Michael Christensen, Christian Engelhart and Lance Willsey (1:47.631 at 119.074).
2. Magnus Racing (No. 44 Porsche GT3 Cup) with Andy Lally, John Potter, Richard Lietz and Nicolas Armindo (1:47.828 at 118.856 mph).
3. MOMO/NGT Motorsport (No. 30 Porsche GT3 Cup) with Sean Edwards, Henrique Cisneros, Kuba Giermaziak and Patrick Pilet (1:48.007 at 118.659 mph).
4. Park Place Motorsports (No. 73 Porsche GT3 Cup) with Patrick Long, Spencer Pumpelly, Patrick Lindsey, Jason Hart and Daniel Graeff (1:48.137 at 118.516 mph).
5. Scuderia Corsa Michelotto (No. 63 Ferrari 458) with Alessandro Balzan, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Marco Frezza (1:48.260 at 118.382 mph).
PaddockTalk Perspective
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