Donohue Wins Rolex Series Pole at Laguna Seca

David Donohue

David Donohue saved his best for last Friday, running his fastest lap near the end of the session to win the pole for the RumBum.com 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Donohue ran a lap of 1:19.843, 100.908 mph, on his eighth of nine qualifying laps to win his second pole of the season in Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 competition, driving the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley.

The 112-lap, 250-mile race, with a two-hour, 45-minute time limit, takes the green flag at 1:45 p.m. Saturday (PT), and will be televised Sunday on SPEED beginning at noon (ET).

"When you win the race, everybody packs up and leaves," Donohue said. "Winning the pole is real important for the team, because it gives them an extra day of glory. They get a great deal of pride and prestige in front of all of the other people in the paddock."

Donohue will be joined on the front row by Jon Fogarty, who gave the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley its first front row start of the season with a lap of 1:19.951, 100.772 mph.

Fogarty also was contending for the pole late in the session, but had a suspension failure that led to an off-course excursion in the famed Corkscrew turn on what would have been his fastest lap.

"Something went wrong in the right-rear," Fogarty explained. "I was turning right, so I didn't notice it, but when I turned left, the right-rear tire went right. Fortunately, we didn't hit anything. It was not the pole, but it was good."

Starting the race in the second row will be Memo Rojas, 100.371 in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley he shares with Scott Pruett, and the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Ruby Tuesday Porsche Crawford of Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, 100.311 mph. Rojas and Pruett will be seeking their fourth victory of the season in Saturday's event.

Brian Frisselle was fifth in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley co-driven by Mark Wilkins, while Jimmy Vasser timed in sixth in the No. 98 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley he shares with Cristiano da Matta. The latter is making his comeback to racing after a two-year layoff.

In GT, Nick Ham won his first pole of the season for SpeedSource, and second for the team after co-driver Sylvain Tremblay won the pole at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Ham ran a lap of 1:27.014, 92.592 mph in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8.

"We ran a fast lap in the afternoon practice, so I knew we had a shot at the pole," said Ham, who won three poles last season. "But I knew it would be close, because the Farnbacher and Banner cars had also been very fast. I laid down a fast lap that I thought might be good for the pole, but then Kaffer ran two-tenths faster. Fortunately, I was able to get another clean lap and win the pole.

"Even though the pole doesn't mean anything once the race starts, we've been in a small slump since winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona," Ham said. "Winning the pole is a great motivation for the team and all their hard work. Now, we need to win the race tomorrow for Castrol and Mazda at its home track."

Pierre Kaffer, making his third start of the season for Farnbacher Loles Racing, was second fastest in the No. 87 Porsche.

"We ran all morning on the same set of tires," said Kaffer, pole winner at Mexico City in April. "Qualifying was my first proper run. On my first lap, I had some traffic. Then, on my second lap I tried to avoid traffic, and was able to do so until the last corner. Even though might have cost me the pole, I was happy with that lap. The team gave me a good car. Without a fast car, it would have been impossible to drive like this. I really enjoy Laguna Seca. With the Corkscrew, every lap is a challenge. With all the sand and gravel, you never know what to expect."

Saturday's schedule opens with final practice at 10 a.m., with the race starting at 1:45 p.m.

Race Lineup