Pobst Scores SPEED GT Pole at Watkins Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 8, 2008) – Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., will start Sunday’s SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT race from pole at Watkins Glen International. Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton, Fla., will start second for the Round Four race, part of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen weekend.

After taking all three SCCA SPEED World Challenge races at Watkins Glen International last year (one GT win and two Touring Car wins), Pobst could be set to take yet another win at the Glen, after putting the No. 1 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 on the pole for Sunday’s race. The 2007 SCCA SPEED GT Champion entered a lap of 1:55.102 (106.340 mph) on his first hot lap around the 11-turn, 3.4-mile road course.

“Getting the pole in the K-PAX/3R Porsche was a minor miracle today,” Pobst said. “I didn’t think it was possible for this little car to be a giant killer at a track like Watkins. We have a six cylinder engine, everybody else has eights and 10s. The team did a terrific job. We took some risks on our setup, because Watkins Glen is a tricky surface without much grip. Will Moody thought this setup would work in qualifying and guess what? It did.”

After setting the pole time, Pobst brought the car into pit lane to cool down, before sending it out once again to give the team’s race setup a try.

“We were working on the race setup [when we went back out]. I don’t think we can run our qualifying setup in the race – it was a little too radical. The race is a different animal. My biggest challenge is to beat all the big cars to the chicane, because we rule in the Boot.”

Pobst will have one of the “big” cars starting alongside him in row one. Pilgrim qualified the No. 8 Remington Shaving Cadillac CTS-V second, with a lap of 1:55.193 (106.256 mph).

Fastest in Friday practice, Tommy Archer, of Duluth, Minn., put the No. 13 Foametix/Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper third on the grid. Archer recorded his fast lap of 1:55.800 (105.699 mph) in the closing moments of the 25-minute session.

Point leader Brandon Davis, of Huntington Beach, Calif., will start the No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra fourth after entering a 1:55.852 (105.652 mph).

Michael Galati, of Olmsted, Ohio, completed the top five in the No. 23 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 with a time of 1:56.116 (105.411 mph).

Michael McCann (Cadillac CTS-V), Ritch Marziale (Dodge Viper), James Sofronas (Porsche 911 GT3), Eric Curran (Chevrolet Corvette) and Dino Crescentini (Porsche 911 GT3) completed the top 10.

Sunday’s SCCA SPEED GT Round Four race at Watkins Glen International will go green at 10:50 a.m. (EDT). Live timing and lap notes are available at www.world-challenge.com. The race will air on SPEED, Wednesday, June 18, at 1 p.m. (EDT).