SunTrust Racing Qualifying Report - Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen, June 5, 2010: The No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing will start Saturday’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from the outside of the third row after qualifying Friday afternoon at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.

Veteran Max Angelelli, who won Monday’s Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., with 20-year-old co-driver and first-time Rolex Series winner Ricky Taylor, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 41.771 seconds (120.270 mph) over the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course during today’s 15-minute qualifying session for the Daytona Prototype-class entries. It was sixth-best among 30 car-and-driver combinations entered for Saturday’s six-hour endurance marathon.

“We just made some changes that did not pay off for us in the qualifying session,” said Angelelli, whose victory Monday was the 15th of his Rolex Series career that began when he and SunTrust joined the circuit in 2004. “I had a good lap going on the last lap of the session and I overshot a corner. For sure, we weren’t going to be on the pole, but we thought we could probably get second or third. It turned out to be a matter of ‘what-if,’ but this is how it is, and we will go from here. I’m disappointed only because this is the one race (aside from the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona) where I qualify the car, so I was really looking forward to qualifying on the pole. But it didn’t happen. We should be really good for the race, though. I’m not worried.”

Scott Pruett, the series points leader who is sharing the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley with Memo Rojas, shattered his own track qualifying record that he set last June with a lap of 1:40.562 (121.716) to win the pole today. He’ll start alongside second-fastest qualifier Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet Riley he co-drives with Alex Gurney.

“Sixth is not the most glamorous place to start, and I’m not completely sure why we are where we are,” said team owner Wayne Taylor, who won a pair of sprint races at this track in 2005, co-driving the SunTrust Racing machine with Angelelli en route to that year’s Rolex Series championship. “It’s our worst starting position this year, but it’s a six-hour, it’s a long race, and we’ve got a great team with great drivers. We’re disappointed about the qualifying because the car was good in practice this morning. We thought we definitely had a front-row car. We definitely didn’t have a pole car because it’s clear that Pruett has the fastest car. But we’re definitely better than fifth. Whatever the case, now it’s time to focus on the race.”