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Qualifying report

Rain washes out DP qualifying at The Glen: Taylor and Angelelli awarded pole

In the 16-car GT field, the rain held off and a first-time pole winner emerged as Robin Liddell set the fastest time on the Watkins Glen road course.

#10 Wayne Taylor Corvette DP: Max Angelelli, Jordan Taylor

#10 Wayne Taylor Corvette DP: Max Angelelli, Jordan Taylor

Grand-Am

Watkins Glen, N. Y. – Rain rolled into Watkins Glen International just as qualifying for the Daytona Prototype class of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series was about to start. As a result, Grand-Am officials cancelled DP qualifications, and the starting line-up for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen was set based on the point standings. DP teams will nominate their starting drivers prior to the start of the race.

Sunday’s 32nd running of the six-hour event will be flagged off rain-or-shine at 11 a.m. ET, and it will be telecast by SPEED.

Instead of timed runs, the premier DP category was allowed to use the allotted time to practice in the rain, as Sunday’s forecast calls for more rain.

Qualifications for the GT and GX classes were completed, although it rained on portions of the track during the 15 minutes of qualifications.

In the DP class, 14 teams are entered, and Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor will head the field in the Velocity Worldwide/Toshiba/Chevrolet Corvette DP of Wayne Taylor Racing, and they will be flanked by Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney in the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP owned by GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing.

Third in the starting order will be the Starworks Ford Riley team of Ryan Dalziel, Alex Popow and IndyCar ace Sebastien Bourdais.

After the final practice, Angelelli met with the media to discuss his team’s approach and the adverse weather forecast. “I am glad to be on the pole, especially if it is raining tomorrow,” he said. “When the track is wet, it is very physical and starting from the lead is a major help in the first half hour. If the weather stays wet, it will be great for the fans but not for the drivers.”

Regarding the track and the championship, he added, “Personally, I like the track, and it is very high on my list. We always seem to have a good car and strategy here. For me, though, I need to be more patient at the beginning of the race, and extra patient if it is wet. At the same time, you don’t want to give up too much, so you have to find the best compromise for good results, to allow us to keep the lead for the championship. The championship is our goal.”

In the 16-car GT field, Robin Liddell took the pole in the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R. The Brit’s speed was 108.72 miles per hour around the 3.4-mile road course.

Liddell earned his first pole of season and fourth of career. John Edwards co-drives with Liddell.

Said Liddell, “I don’t qualify the car very often, but it was my turn today. We had been struggling for balance in practice as we were on different tires. The engineers did a really good job with the qualifying set-up, and it was really hooked up. We knew the rain was coming, so it was time to go. My team boss was on radio saying it was raining on front-straight, so I fully expected to find the last two turns really wet, but those turns were dry and I kept my foot in it. I was very happy to get the pole, and I wanted to prove to the guys that I get a pole.”

Second in class was the Marsh Racing Corvette of Eric Curran. Boris Said will join Curran with the driving duties.

In the three-car GX field, Sylvain Tremblay put the Mazdaspeed/Speedsource Mazda 6 GX on the pole. Tremblay earned his first GX pole and fifth career pole.

The Floridian’s speed was 103.310 mph, and Andrew Carbonell and Tom Long will share the driving duties with Tremblay.

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