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 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
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