Grand Am Prototypes - Sun Trust Qualifying Report

Montreal, August 20, 2011: The No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing will start Saturday’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Montreal 200 from the outside of the front row after qualifying Friday afternoon at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, ending 22-year-old Ricky Taylor’s streak of consecutive pole positions in the SunTrust Racing machine at six races.

Taylor, second-year co-driver to veteran Italian Max Angelelli, was vying for his Rolex Series record-tying seventh consecutive pole on the 2.709-mile, 15-turn Formula 1 circuit. But the driver whose record he was chasing – Jon Fogarty of the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Riley team – is the driver who ended Taylor’s pole streak in emphatic fashion.

Taylor’s best qualifying lap of 1 minute, 33.681 seconds (104.102 mph) was almost .7 of a second off Fogarty’s pole-setting lap of 1:32.999 (104.866 mph) during today’s 15-minute session for Daytona Prototype-class cars. Still, it put Taylor on the front row for the seventh consecutive race and the SunTrust car for the eighth time in 11 races this season. A total of 25 car-and-driver combinations will take the green flag for Saturday morning’s two-hour race, a prelude to the afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Napa 200.

“Our SunTrust car was good in qualifying, once again,” said Taylor, who finished third at Montreal with Angelelli last season. “Part of the reason we’re not on pole today, I think, is a little bit down to me. I don’t think I got quite as much as I could out of the tires when they were at their best early in the session. I did my fastest lap the last lap of the session, so I don’t think I got the most out of it. Jon (Fogarty) did a good job. That’s four out of five poles for him at Montreal. Of course, I’m disappointed. It’s nice to have something to look back on. I’m just really happy I had that run of six (consecutive poles). It was pretty special and I’m really fortunate to have such a good team behind me in the SunTrust guys. It’s not easy when you’re racing against really good guys – Jon and Memo (Rojas) and Paul Edwards and all those guys. They’re all really good guys. One pole is really satisfying for me. I’m disappointed, but I’m also fortunate. I’m definitely looking forward to the race. I think we have a good racecar.”