|
 16
Oct -
Randy Pobst starts
the penultimate round of the Speed GT World Challenge at Road
Atlanta from the front of the 27-car grid.
Pobst, who lives locally in Gainesville, swept his Audi Sport
North America supported Audi RS 6 Competition to a 1min
28.837secs, an average speed of 102.93mph around the 2.54-mile,
12-turn Georgia track.
Champion Racing team-mate Michael Galati starts tomorrow’s 27-lap
race from the third row of the grid, his 1:29.401 good enough for
the sixth fastest time.
The 20-minute session,
staged in warm sunshine, was truncated by a 10-minute red flag
incident. Pobst was baulked by a slower car on his first flying
lap but set a 1:29.031 on his second lap to go second behind
series leader Bill Auberlen (BMW) who Randy trails by 20-points
after eight races.
Galati too suffered on his first “flyer” but regrouped to move in
to third on a 1:29.401 before the red flag incident with a little
over six minutes on the clock. The session resumed with just
enough time for competitors to register one further flying lap.
Mike Fitzgerald (Porsche) snatched pole-position with a 1:28.479
but Pobst responded, stopping the clock just 0.357secs slower, to
earn Champion Racing its ninth front row start of the season.
Meanwhile Galati was unable to improve upon his time.
Michael
Galati:
“Before the red
flag especially, my Audi was hopping wildly coming under the
bridge and down through the final turn which was very
uncomfortable – a problem almost certainly caused by the rear
shocks. The crew made adjustments during the stoppage which
helped but after the red flag, I screwed up my flying lap when I
missed a shift.”
Randy Pobst:
“I’m pretty happy with my position and I’m confident that I’ll be
leading in to the first corner. At the start, my lap was ruined
by Jon Groom but I got back in the groove. I was second fastest
at the re-start but that time was bumped down to fourth. I
managed to hook up another good lap and got back onto the front
row. Should be a good race – I’m determined to get that first RS
6 win.” |
