Sebring - MSB Team Qualifying

2002 12 Hours of Sebring
Sebring International Raceway
qualifying, March 14    

quick finish

The No. 33 Ferrari 360 Modena GT will start 10th on the GT grid for 
Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring race.  The MSB Motorsport team's qualifying 
run was delayed by an electrical problem, but Ralf Kelleners of Germany came 
up to speed quickly in the final minutes of the session.  His final lap of 
the qualifying session was the team's fastest of the week, covering the 
3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway in two minutes 10.913 seconds.

"Every day we get out on the track, we learn and improve a lot," Kelleners 
said of the new team.  "We're happy with the qualifying position.  We still 
have some work ahead of us, but I think this will probably be our race speed."

Kelleners will drive with Marino Franchitti of Scotland.  "I think Ralf's 
done a fantastic job with the time he had," Franchitti said of the qualifying 
effort.  "We're coming forward with the car and improving every session.  The 
next session we'll devote more time to the race setup and make sure we can 
run consistently for the whole stint.  Hopefully, we can maintain this kind 
of pace through the race."

winning at Sebring

Kelleners scored an overall podium finish at Sebring in 2001.  He says 
teamwork is the key to winning the 12-hour endurance classic.

"To have a good result at the end of the race, first of all you have to 
finish," he noted.  "Second, you have to have a team that works well in the 
pit stops and a car that is reliable.  It doesn't make much difference which 
car you race, GT or prototype, you always want to do the best job possible.  
We have to hope that we'll have a good clean run and that fortune is on our 
side."

rookie view

Franchitti is excited about his first visit to the historic Sebring track.

"Sebring is very bumpy, but it has a great atmosphere," he said.  "I don't 
know it too well yet, but every lap's more fun to drive.  It's a difficult 
course because you have bumps in some places and smooth in others, slow and 
fast corners.  It's a real challenge for the team and the engineers to get 
the car to work everywhere."

### 





Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945