Pirro and Biela top practice at Infineon
At 1:22.635, Pirro and Biela were less than a half second away from the qualifying record set by Champion Racing teammate Marco Werner last year. The No. 2 Audi was 0.3 seconds faster than the No. 20 Dyson Racing Lola EX257 of Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace, which finished second last year at Infineon. Defending race and series champions JJ Lehto and Werner, in their No. 1 Champion Racing Audi R8, were just 0.05 seconds behind Wallace and Dyson. Lehto and Werner are on a two-race winning streak in the Audi, having won at Le Mans and the New England Grand Prix two weeks ago at Lime Rock Park.
In LMP2, the No. 37 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 of Clint Field and Liz Halliday were quickest at 1:27.757. The car, which won in class at Road Atlanta, was 0.04 seconds ahead of the No. 10 Miracle Motorsports Courage C65 of Jeff Bucknum and Chris McMurry. The duo have won twice this year, including the New England Grand Prix. The Corvette Racing parade continued in GT1, with the No. 4 Corvette C6-R of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin, winners at Lime Rock, setting a fast lap of 1:29.852. About a second behind was the No. 3 sister Corvette C6-R of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell. The pair, each with a ALMS record 23 career victories (along with Lehto), are going for their fifth straight class victory at Infineon.
Third was the No. 5 Pacific Coast Motorsports Corvette C5-R, the same chassis Fellows and O'Connell drove last year. In 2005, Ryan Dalziel and Alex Figge are sharing driving duties.
In GT2, the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas was quickest in class with a 1:34.376. Bernhard and Dumas have class victories in the last two ALMS rounds (Mid-Ohio and Lime Rock), and Bernhard won at Infineon last year in the No. 23 entry along with Jorg Bergmeister. This year, Bergmeister is driving with Patrick Long in the No. 31 Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Porsche. They were second in class Friday, just barely 0.1 seconds behind Bernhard and Dumas. Third was the No. 24 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Randy Pobst and Ian Baas at 1:35.882.
The Infineon Technologies Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Ravenswood Winery, is set for 11 a.m. PDT Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. CBS Sports will have television coverage from 3 to 5 p.m. EDT. American Le Mans Radio and Live Timing and Scoring can be found at www.americanlemans.com. Testing is scheduled from 12:15 to 2:15 p.m. PDT on Friday, with practice sessions from 10 to 11 a.m. and 2:05 to 3:05 p.m. Saturday. Qualifying is scheduled from 3:15 to 4 p.m. Saturday.