Wilson Wins Grand Sport Pole for Sunday's Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Race at Miller Motorsports Park

TOOELE, Utah Sept. 20, 2008 - Leading a Porsche sweep of the top three qualifying positions, Kris Wilson continued to show his speed in Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series action Saturday morning at the 4.486-mile, 23-turn Miller Motorsports Park, as he won his second straight Grand Sport (GS) pole position one day after setting the second and third fastest practice times in two different cars. The 63-car field will take the green flag at 11:20 a.m. MT Sunday (SPEED, 11 a.m. ET Oct. 12).

Wilson qualified the No. 25 C-MAX/Unitech Racing Porsche 997 with a speed of 3:08.703 (85.582 mph), earning his second career pole; he also earned the top starting position Aug. 30 at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Wilson is teamed with David Riddle and David Russell in the car, and Wilson is expected to take over the team's No. 26 C-MAX/Unitech Racing Porsche 997 after vacating his primary ride. The No. 26 Porsche 997, qualified by Riddle, will start 18th.

Wilson will share the front row with Scott Schroeder, who is looking for his second career victory and second of the season in the No. 41 TRG Carlsen Porsche/Cohen Financial Porsche 997. Schroeder clocked in with a time of 3:09.606 (85.175 mph), in the car he co-drives with Andy Lally. Schroeder and Lally won last month at Iowa Speedway. Schroeder's teammate, Duncan Ende, was third in the No. 39 Carlsen Porsche/The DigiTrust Group Porsche 997 with a time of 3:09.727 (85.120 mph). Ende co-drives the car with Spencer Pumpelly.

Fourth was Bryan Ortiz (3:09.842; 85.069 mph) in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Ortiz co-drives with Don Salama. Nic Jonsson rounded out the top five (3:10.001; 84.997 mph) in the No. 79 Kinetic Motorsports i-MOTO BMW M3 he shares with Glenn Bocchino.

Championship contenders had mixed results. Bret Seafuse and his No. 37 JBS Motorsports Trumansburg Shursave Ford Mustang GT found speed in a sixth-place qualifying position (3:10.201; 84.908 mph); his co-driver is James Gue. Jep Thornton, Joe Foster and Craig Stanton's cars were 12th, 13th and 14th. Thornton was 12th (3:11.244; 84.445 mph) in the No. 09 Automatic Racing Imported Car Store/Land Air BMW M3 he shares with Jeff Segal. Right behind in 13th was Foster (3:11.762; 84.217 mph) in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT he shares with Scott Maxwell. Jon Miller was 14th (3:11.778; 84.210 mph) in the No. 83 BGB Motorsports Performance Drink/Weeden Consultants Porsche 997 he shares with Stanton. Seafuse and Gue lead the standings by two (196-194) over Maxwell and Foster, five over Stanton and six over Thornton and Segal.

In ST, Owen Trinkler set his fastest lap on his first of three to win his second pole of the season (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course). The Nashville, Tenn. native earned a time of 3:15.609 (82.560 mph), which was 0.033 seconds quicker than Dion von Moltke's time of 3:15.642 (82.546 mph). Trinkler co-drives the No. 196 RSR Motorsports Cruise America, Inc./Casetech Mini Cooper S with BJ Zacharias, while von Moltke co-drives the No. 171 APR Motorsport APR/BBS Volkswagen GTI with Ian Baas. Both teams - which field three cars each - are looking for their first-ever KONI Challenge Series ST victories.

Defending series champion Trevor Hopwood was third (3:16.521; 82.577 mph) in the No. 76 Compass360 Racing Skunk2/Sunday Group Management Acura TSX he co-drives with Adam Burrows. The pair have two victories this season. Series point leader Jamie Holtom was fourth (3:16.671; 82.114 mph) in the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS he shares with Eric Curran. The pair co-won the race at Miller Motorsports Park last season, and Curran returns to the car after a four-race absence. Holtom's lead over Kristian Skavnes, whose co-driver Andrew Aquilante qualified 12th in the No. 111 ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru Legacy, is four points (217-213).

Von Moltke's teammate Mark White, whose No. 181 APR Motorsport APR/BBS Volkswagen GTI was dragging a left rear bumper upon returning to the pits, was fifth (3:16.800; 82.060 mph). He co-drives with Randy Pobst.

Kuno Wittmer, third in points, saw teammate Peter Cunningham qualify 10th (3:18.200; 81.481 mph) in the No. 32 i-MOTO Racing Cybernation/Alpinestar Acura TSX, while fourth in points Bob Beede qualified 18th (3:19.227; 81.061 mph) in the No. 29 Bill Fenton Motorsports Honda Certified Used Cars/Southern Auto Auction Honda Civic Si.

The two-and-a-half hour KONI Challenge Series race will start at 11:20 a.m. MT Sunday.

POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

Kris Wilson (No. 25 C-MAX/Unitech Racing Porsche 997; polesitter in GS): "Two poles in a row, I love it! The Unitech guys are really coming together. They haven't run one of these Porsches until this year. It's taken them awhile to figure it out, but now that they've figured it out, it's figured out! I can't say enough about C-MAX, Unitech and all the guys. My part is easy - just go and turn the wheel a little bit. I'll turn this car over to David Russell and then I'm going to get in the 26 car. Hopefully, we'll lead from start to finish."

Scott Schroeder (No. 41 TRG Porsche 997; second in GS): "The TRG guys have been working real hard. This is our second front row start of the year. After New Jersey, both cars had big damage so the crew has been working really hard to repair them. We've found a sweet spot in the setup lately, and I've got to thank all the guys back in the shop. Hopefully, we can get it done. Maybe (we can) make a move on Kris at the start and pull away from there. Duncan had a real good qualifying run today. I'll turn my car over to Andy Lally - he's probably the best closer in the business. My plan is to hand him a good car. He knows what to do from there."

Bret Seafuse (No. 37 JBS Motorsports Trumansburg Shursave Ford Mustang GT; sixth in GS, championship contender): "I think we're in good shape for tomorrow. This is the best shape we've ever been in for this track. We've done a lot of suspension work over the past two days - we've tried everything. We were pretty good when we got here, and we fine tuned it. I think it's a good race car."

Owen Trinkler (No. 196 RSR Motorsports Mini Cooper S; polesitter in ST): "It was a good run for us. I've got to thank my teammate, Rick Johnson. Rick helped my on my first lap, which happened to be the pole lap. We had a little plan set up for the front straightaway. This is definitely not a Mini track. We got one pole at Mid-Ohio, which is kind of our track. I visualized a 15.5 last night, and got close to it. I got a 15.6. Obviously, the VWs are going to be up there and they will have me for breakfast at the start. I can't wait to get to the back side of the track, where all the turns are, that's where the Mini really excels. I'll hang in there. I've got BJ Zacharias getting in for me once I get out, and then I'll drop in to the 198 car and finish that one off. Hopefully BJ can keep it up in the top five and see what we can do. I also want to thank Randy Smalley and everyone at Cruise America and Casetech.

Dion von Moltke (No. 171 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI; second in ST): "Qualifying went pretty good. We're happy with second place. We've been looking forward to this weekend since Daytona. Second is a good place to start for the race. I know we've got a real good car, and hopefully have it in a good place for Ian (Baas) to take over and go for a podium or hopefully a win tomorrow. My second lap was my best. The first lap was alright, but the Mini got me, and my second was four-100ths off his pole lap. So it's going to be a close battle. It will be great fun tomorrow."

Trevor Hopwood (No. 76 Compass360 Racing Acura TSX): "It is great to be quickest of all the non forced-induction cars, but we will see what happens once the race starts because I'm not sure everyone showed their full hand here in qualifying. I'm happy to bring Fischer Skis a good qualifying result out here in ski country. Ray Lee and the Compass360 guys did a great job once again. The car was a little loose, but the track had more grip than it did yesterday so I just tried to make the most of it even though and I was on the ragged edge a few times. Hopefully we can win the normally-aspirated class on Sunday!"