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ALMS: Dick Barbour, Alex Job Team Porsches Dominate Las Vegas GT Grid

29 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

POINTS CHASE BECOMES EVEN TIGHTER AFTER COMMISSIONER'S RULING

LAS VEGAS - The #5 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, qualified by Monaco's Lucas Luhr, retained yesterday's provisional pole position by shattering the track record to put his car first on the grid for Sunday's American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Las Vegas event.

The car, which traversed the 2.25-mile oval/road course at more than 104 miles-per-hour, broke the existing track record by four-tenths of a second despite running stock suspension because of a morning practice problem.

"I made a driving mistake this morning in warm-up and broke the rear suspension, and had to replace it with stock parts, so I didn't know how the car would handle until qualifying started," said Luhr. "We were fortunate to get in a fast lap and are pleased to be on the pole," said Luhr, who captured his second pole position.

Luhr's co-driver Dirk Muller has captured seven poles this year in the #5 Barbour Porsche, and Dick Barbour team cars have been on the pole for nine of the 11 events. Porsche 911 GT3 Rs have won all 11 pole positions for the 2000 American Le Mans Series GT events.

Alex Job Racing, whose Porsche 911 GT3 R won the American Le Mans Series championship a year ago, is again contending for the title with his #23 entry driven by Randy Pobst and Bruno Lambert. Pobst overcame several mechanical problems caused by two accidents in earlier sessions to grab the second spot on the grid, with the #51 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Sascha Maassen/Bob Wollek qualifying third - with Maassen at the helm.

Speaking of Maassen and Wollek, the points battle in the GT class - previously documented - just got closer Saturday as Professional Sports Car Commissioner Peter Lyon restored the Bob Wollek/Sascha Maassen finish from Texas. While the Commissioner ruled that the finish stands, he also ruled there was still some question about an irregular driver log. Thus, Maassen and Wollek were awarded half the points they would have earned at Texas, so Maassen - who turned the fastest race lap -gets 11 points, and Wollek gets 10 points. The revised GT standings look like this: Maassen - 192; Wollek - 190; Muller - 188; Pobst - 182; Lambert - 180; Luhr - 174. As the top ten finishes count for the season championship - and this is the 11th event - each driver will drop his lowest finish after this race, and Maassen, Muller and Wollek all have eight points to drop as their lowest finish. Pobst and Lambert do not have to drop any points as this will be their tenth finish. The bottom line is that the top five point leaders are virtually tied for the championship lead.

The fifth spot on the grid is occupied by the #21 MCR/Aspen Knolls Porsche 911 GT3 R qualified by Shane Lewis, who will share his ride with Grand American series runner-up Darren Law, who is trying to improve his standing in the world-wide Porsche Cup award. Sixth is the Stuck/Said BMW, followed by the Christophe Bouchut/Tony Burgess Seikel Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Bouchut was the pole-setter in GT for this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, and is here to improve his second-place position in the Porsche Cup.

Rounding out the top ten in GT are the van Overbeek/P. Cunningham BMW (7th); the Jonsson/B.Cunningham BMW (8th); the David Murry/Johnny Mowlem Skea Racing International Porsche 911 GT3 R (9th); and the Petersen Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, co-driven by last year's champion Cort Wagner, current Porsche Cup leader and Grand American GTU champion Mike Fitzgerald, and team owner Mike Petersen (10th)..

Text Provided By Porsche

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