Alex Job Racing - Trois Rivieres qualifying 1-2

Trois-Rivières
qualifying, Aug. 2, 2002

one-two

Alex Job Racing qualified first and second in the GT class  for the first 
American Le Mans Series race in Trois-Rivières, Qué., scheduled for Saturday 
afternoon.  Lucas Luhr qualified on the class pole in the No. 23 McKenna 
Xybernaut Porsche, covering the 1.52-mile street circuit in one minute 6.740 
seconds.  The effort brought him within one championship point of his 
co-driver, GT points leader Sascha Maassen.  Jörg Bergmeister and Timo 
Bernhard will start second in class after Bergmeister qualified the No. 22 
Porsche in 1:06.894.

"I had an easy job," Luhr noted.  "I just did one timed lap.  I think it 
could have been a little bit better if I'd done two warm-up laps because the 
circuit is really short, so the front tires weren't up to temperature as they 
should be.  But it was still okay.  The car is good and we have good setup, 
so now we start working for the race."

Bergmeister was happy with his time, also set in one fast lap.  "We made some 
changes on the car that were pretty good," he said.  "I still had some 
problems with turn-in understeer, but that's okay for one lap.  I'm happy 
with P2 [position 2], just one-tenth [of a second] behind Lucas."

tops in tennis

Q:  When does a GT driver finish ahead of a prototype driver?  A:  When they 
play tennis.

Sascha Maassen was the victor in a match with Audi driver Tom Kristensen on 
Thursday.  "He was already practicing when I got there and he chose the 
racquets," Kristensen explained.  "He is certainly a great player and he 
would have gone far in that world if he'd chosen that route.  Next time, I'll 
play with my right hand!"

Maassen replied, "He's absolutely right.  I'm very happy he knows every 
excuse possible - I have no problem letting him practice his excuses, as well 
as tennis."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
403 287 3945
spur07@cs.com