World Challenge - St. Pete Winners Back On Pirelli World Challenge Poles At Long Beach

St. Pete Winners Back On Pirelli World Challenge Poles At Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 17, 2011) – At the Pirelli World Challenge Championships season opener in St. Petersburg, Patrick Long, of Bellair, Fla., Jason von Kluge, from Ann Arbor, Mich., and Lawson Aschenbach, from Darnestown, Md., grabbed GT, GTS and Touring Car wins, respectively. All three qualified on the pole position on Sunday morning for the afternoon’s Pirelli World Challenge presented by StopTech, part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Already limited to a 12-minute qualifying session because of the busy Grand Prix schedule, the GT class got more intense when a mechanical issue cause Randy Pobst’s No. 6 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 to spin into the wall on the opening lap. The session was temporarily red flagged to clear the blocked track, leaving approximately five minutes for qualifying and two flying laps for every competitor in the field.

Long, the Drivers’ Championship leader, immediately got down to business and posted a time of 1:21.729 (86.686 mph) in his No. 45 TruSpeed/Privacy Star Porsche 911 GT3 to qualifying on pole. Long’s time shattered the previous track record of 1:24.971 (83.379 mph), set by Kuno Wittmer last year at the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporarily street circuit.

“It worked out for us,” Long said. “It was unfortunate that there was a shortened session, but my plan was to do the minimum laps to save my tires. With this cold temperature, that really means you have to go aggressive and it really worked out to plan.”

Long extended his Championship points lead with the 15 bonus points awarded for qualifying.

“The Truspeed guys worked from when we finished up practice yesterday morning until seven last night,” Long explained. “I had a whole list of stuff that I still wanted to push forward. We’ve had a dominant start to the season, but we’re not about to start counting our chips and thinking that we’ve got this field beat because there’s a tremendous amount of talent and a lot of dedication from the manufacturers. The street courses are going to be our strong points in the Porsche 911 but we know we’ve got our work cut out for us when we get to the traditional road courses, so we’re just building on the opportunity to get some points on the board. We know the race this afternoon is going to be tough, but we’ll be there to fight.”

Starting next to Long in the front row for Sunday afternoon’s race will be Brandon Davis. The Huntington Beach-native finished on the podium a season ago in the No. 10 ACS Express/Sun Micro Ford Mustang Cobra and posted a qualifying time of 1:22.277 (86.109 mph). The Huntington Beach-native and 2009 GT Drivers’ Champion hasn’t competed in World Challenge since the Grand Prix of Long Beach last year.

Proving the diversity of the Pirelli World Challenge Championships, two additional manufacturers make up the second row on the grid. Mike Skeen, driving the No. 2 CRP Racing/Cragar Wheels Chevrolet Corvette, qualified third with a best time of 1:22.399 (85.981 mph). The No. 7 Dalsin Developments Dodge Viper of Jason Daskalos adds muscle to row two after a qualifying time of 1:22.410 (85.970 mph).

Global Motorsports Group teammates James Sofronas (No. 14 GMG Porsche 911 GT3) and Dino Crescentini (No. 4 Centric Parts/StopTech Porsche 911 GT3) will comprise row three on this afternoon’s grid.

Unlike the pressure of the shortened session that the GT drivers faced, the combined GTS and Touring Car session got their full 12 minutes of qualifying.

Von Kluge earned his first World Challenge pole after posting a fast time of 1:28.729 (79.847 mph) in the No. 19 Varsity Ford of Ann Arbor/Steeda Ford Mustang Boss 302S. His best lap was his third in the session and led a Ford Mustang sweep of the first two rows of the GTS field.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better out of Long Beach,” von Kluge said. “I was born here in Los Angeles, and I don’t live here anymore but it’s pretty special to me. I always watched it on tv, it’s my first time here and it’s pretty exciting.

“We have to get a good start. With these standing starts, it’s all about moderating the tire spin and getting a good launch and making sure we can file into Turn 1 and Turn 2 around the water fountain. I’d like to be able to get through there clean and just get away.”

Chasing von Kluge but falling just short of the pole was Paul Brown in the No. 50 Lucas Oil/K&N Filter Ford Mustang Boss 302S. Brown had been quickest in both practice sessions on the weekend before earning the front row start.

Next on the grid are two more Mustangs, but instead of the Boss 302S version that makes up the front row, the second row is comprised of a pair of Ford Mustang FR500S machines that previously competed in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge.

The No. 25 Interbank FX/RacewithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S driven by 18-year-old Ben Crosland will start third after posting a qualifying time of 1:29.943 (78.769 mph). Round Two winner Eric Foss will start on the outside of the second row after a best time of 1:30.234 (78.515 mph) in the No. 73 Traxxas/St. Jude Hospital/SPX Ford Mustang FR500S.

Peter Cunningham is the first non-Mustang on the grid, qualifying fifth in the No. 1 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX.

Aschenbach earned the Touring Car pole with a fast time of 1:34.918 (74.641 mph) to start first in class and 28th overall in the 37 car field in the No. 71 Compass360 Honda Civic Si. It’s the third career World Challenge pole for the 2006 GT Drivers’ Champion.

“It was a good lap,” Aschenbach said. “It was very cold today and the track temperatures were pretty low and it took a little bit for the tires to come in. It was probably the same for everybody. Frankly, hats off to the Compass360 guys. Our Honda Civic was just awesome in qualifying. Once the tires came in, we knew we had a shot at it and we just had to put it all together. It worked out.

“Long Beach is probably the premier event on the World Challenge schedule, and to be able to get this in front of all the fans and everyone here, we’re really happy about that.”

Just off of Aschenbach’s pace was the No. 60 Gila Monster/Zotz Racing Volkswagen Jetta of Ron Zitza. Zitza, the runner-up in the season-opener to Aschenbach, posted a fast time of 1:35.057 (74.532 mph).

The front row of Aschenbach and Zitza gapped the rest of the field during qualifying. Qualifying in third, more than two seconds behind Zitza, was the No. 88 K-Pax Racing Volvo C30 of Aaron Povoledo. The Canadian posted a time of 1:38.585 (71.864 mph), his best qualifying position in four career World Challenge events.

Devin Cates, in the No. 23 Cutaway Creations/Cates Engineering Volkwagen GTI will start on the outside of row two in Touring Car after posting a best time 1:39.120 (71.477 mph).

Rafael Navarro, who turned a lap of 1:37.165 (72.915 mph) in the No. 01 Revo Technik/Carbotech Volkswagen GTI, had his time disallowed after his car was found to be underweight in post-qualifying technical inspection. The 17-year-old Temecula native will make his first career World Challenge start at his hometown race from the rear of the field under the penalty.

The lights are scheduled to go out for the Pirelli World Challenge of Long Beach presented by StopTech at 4:15 p.m. (PDT) on Sunday afternoon for Round Three of the 12-race championship.