Werner 2nd in Mosport Int'l Raceway Qualifying

(Including photos from Saturday practice and qualifying at Mosport)
 
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada. (August 7, 2004) - Marco Werner drove his fastest lap of the weekend at Mosport International Raceway during today's qualifying session (1:07.875) but it just wasn't enough to earn the pole position for Team ADT Champion Racing. James Weaver in the lighter-weight Lola/MG edged out Werner by less than half of second.

Weather conditions might have had something to do with it. Today's temperatures were in the low 70's and very cloudy. Tomorrow is rumored to be sunny and warmer so Technical Director Brad Kettler decided to go with a harder compound tire that would run better in tomorrow's warmer temperatures. In the American Le Mans Series, all cars must start the race on the tires they qualified on. It's a gamble that may have cost the team the pole but will hopefully earn them their 5th consecutive win in tomorrow's 2:45 minute endurance race.

This weekend the American Le Mans Series again ran their "new" style of qualifying. Unlike single-car qualifying formats used in many other forms of racing, the format for the ALMS has multiple cars on the track at the same time, dispatched individually at specific intervals timed to maximize the opportunity for each car to have clear track. The cars line up for qualifying in reverse order of the fastest lap achieved by each car in the practice session immediately prior to qualifying. The fastest cars are therefore placed at the end of the line. Each car receives a total of four laps on the track during the qualifying session, including an out lap, two flying laps and an in-lap.

The Grand Prix of Mosport will get the green flag tomorrow, Sunday, at noon (EDT). CBS will be provide live coverage in North America from 1-3 p.m. (EDT) and will also be shown live in Europe by MotorsTV beginning at 17:00 (UK time). The American Le Mans Series Radio Web will have live coverage of the race, as well as Saturday's qualifying, online at www.americanlemans.com.

Driver quotes:

JJ Lehto (Finland): "This is better for us than last year. We are much faster and much closer than last year. The Dyson team was fast here last year and we were almost a second off. Now we're only less than half a second off which is a good sign that we are better than before. It will be a long race and a tough race. The teamwork will have to be perfect tomorrow in order for us to win this race."

Marco Werner (Germany): "This was my quickest lap of the weekend. I think it's good for us to be in the front row. Last year both of the Dyson cars were in the front row and now we are in the front row. That's important for us so we can win the race. The Dyson cars have also tested a lot on this track. Congratulations to James Weaver and to Dyson Racing. It will be a close race."

Brad Kettler (Technical Director): "I'm a little surprised about today's qualifying session. The Audi R8 is really solid right now and we've definitely made the right choice in terms of tire compound for tomorrow's race. We qualified on a tire that's a little bit harder for warmer temperatures and we think that's the way it's going to be tomorrow. I'm happy with the result, just still a little bit surprised at the speed of the Dyson cars."

DRIVERS TEAM TIME SPEED

1) J. Weaver/B. Leitzinger Dyson Racing 1:07.430 1:31.283

2) J. Lehto/M. Werner ADT Champion Racing 1:07.875 1:30.422

3) C. Dyson/A. Wallace Dyson Racing 1:09.521 1:27.334

4) J. Field/N. Jonsson Intersport Racing 1:11.364 1:24.046

5) O. Gavin/O. Beretta Corvette Racing 1:13.317 1:20.741