Pruett Takes Pole in Austin

How do you save a disappointing season?

Scott Pruett, who co-drives the No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley with Joey Hand, took a big step toward making that happen late Friday afternoon when he qualified the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Prototype on the pole for Saturday’s Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.

Pruett and Hand were second at Long Beach and Watkins Glen, but they haven’t visited victory lane so far this season. But if there’s a prime place to turn the season around, it’s at Circuit of The Americas where he and his previous co-driver, Memo Rojas, won the race here last year.

“This year," Pruett said, “we’re coming in to the race with one focus, and that’s to win. Typically, we’re worried about the championship so we’re conservative, we’re cautious, we don’t take risks. But this year, it’s all about winning."

Rojas, incidentally, moved over to the No. 0 DeltaWing for 2015, and Pruett said that car, though Rojas and co-driver Katherine Legge only qualified seventh, could be a factor: “The DeltaWing has a ton of straightaway speed," Pruett said.

In Prototype qualifying, Pruett laid down a fast lap – one minute, 58.441 seconds, with a speed of 103.343 mph. His closest competition was another team that needs a good run – the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Honda HPD Ligier JS P2 of John Pew and Oswaldo Negri, Jr., with a best lap of 1:58.512. That team has one second and two thirds this year, and with only to races left in the season – this one, and the 10-hour closer, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta – time is running out to earn a victory.

Third in Prototype qualifying was the No. 5 Action Express Mustang Sampling Corvette DP of defending season champions Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, with a lap of 1:59.008. The No. 5 car is involved in a three-way battle for the points lead where three teams are separated by just two points – they are in second, with their Action Express Racing team car, the No. 31 Whelen Corvette DP, in third. The No. 31, with Eric Curran and Dane Cameron, qualified fifth.

Leading the points coming to Austin was the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP of Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook. They qualified sixth, after Valiante spun at the top of the hill in Turn 1, but he was able to restart.

Fourth in Prototype qualifying on the hot track was the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP of Wayne Taylor Racing, with brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor as the drivers.

Jordan is convinced heat may be a factor Saturday. “It’s going to be really warm tomorrow, probably our hottest race of the year. That, with a pretty physical track, will make for a long race. We’ll try and hydrate as much as possible tonight and try and stay as cool as possible tomorrow."

In GT Le Mans, points leader Patrick Pilet topped qualifying with a lap of 2:04.396 in the No. 911 Porsche North America entry he shares with 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Nick Tandy. Second was Dirk Werner 2:04.490 in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTE. Third was Earl Bamber in the No. 912 car, a sister Porsche to Pilet’s car, with a lap of 2:04.625.

In GT Daytona, Dion Von Moltke put his No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS on the pole with a lap of 2:11.097. Second was Texan Ben Keating in his No. 33 Riley Dodge Viper GT3-R with a lap of 2:11.658. Bill Sweedler was third, lapping his No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia at 2:11.729.

Chris Cumming posted the fastest lap in Prototype Challenge, a 2:02.222 in the No. 11 RSR AutoMaxUSA ORECA/Chevrolet he co-drives with Bruno Junqueira. They were followed by the No. 85 JDC/Miller car of Matt McMurry with a lap of 202.697. Third was James French in the No. 38 Performance Tech car, whose best lap was 2:03.586.

Race time is 12:35 p.m. ET Saturday with FOX Sports 2 providing the live TV broadcast beginning at 12:30 p.m. The race will be rebroadcast in its entirety by FOX Sports 1 at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile app.

Lineup

Pos CP No Class Drivers Time Speed Diff Laps Make
1 1 01 P Hand/Pruett 1:58.441 103.343 0.000s 4 Ford EcoBoost Riley DP
2 2 60 P Pew/Negri Jr. 1:58.512 103.281 0.071 7 Honda HPD Ligier JS P2
3 3 5 P Barbosa/Fittipaldi 1:59.008 102.850 0.567 6 Corvette DP
4 4 10 P R.Taylor/J.Taylor 1:59.033 102.829 0.592 7 Corvette DP
5 5 31 P Curran/Cameron 2:00.011 101.991 1.570 6 Corvette DP
6 6 90 P Westbrook/Valiante 2:00.111 101.906 1.670 4 Corvette DP
7 7 0 P Rojas/Legge 2:01.570 100.683 3.129 4 DeltaWing DWC13
8 1 11 PC Junqueira/Cumming 2:02.222 100.146 3.781 8 ORECA FLM09
9 2 85 PC Goikhberg/M.McMurry 2:02.697 99.758 4.256 7 ORECA FLM09
10 8 70 P Nunez/Bomarito 2:02.779 99.691 4.338 6 Mazda Prototype
11 9 07 P T.Long/Joel.Miller 2:03.484 99.122 5.043 6 Mazda Prototype
12 3 38 PC French/Daly 2:03.586 99.040 5.145 8 ORECA FLM09
13 4 54 PC Bennett/Braun 2:03.697 98.951 5.256 7 ORECA FLM09
14 5 8 PC van der Zande/Hedlund 2:04.009 98.703 5.568 6 ORECA FLM09
15 1 911 GTLM Tandy/Pilet 2:04.396 98.395 5.955 3 Porsche 911 RSR
16 6 52 PC Guasch/Kimber-Smith 2:04.432 98.367 5.991 8 ORECA FLM09
17 2 25 GTLM Auberlen/Werner 2:04.490 98.321 6.049 8 BMW Z4 GTE
18 3 912 GTLM Bergmeister/Bamber 2:04.625 98.215 6.184 5 Porsche 911 RSR
19 4 3 GTLM Magnussen/Garcia 2:04.651 98.194 6.210 6 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
20 5 17 GTLM Sellers/Henzler 2:04.813 98.067 6.372 7 Porsche 911 RSR
21 6 24 GTLM J.Edwards/Luhr 2:04.968 97.945 6.527 6 BMW Z4 GTE
22 7 4 GTLM Gavin/Milner 2:05.245 97.728 6.804 7 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
23 8 62 GTLM Kaffer/Fisichella 2:05.996 97.146 7.555 6 Ferrari F458 Italia
24 7 61 PC Yount/R.Lewis 2:08.350 95.364 9.909 6 ORECA FLM09
25 1 48 GTD Haase/von Moltke 2:11.097 93.366 12.656 6 Audi R8 LMS
26 2 33 GTD Keating/J.Bleekemolen 2:11.658 92.968 13.217 7 Dodge Viper GT3R
27 3 63 GTD Sweedler/To.Bell 2:11.729 92.918 13.288 8 Ferrari 458 Italia
28 4 007 GTD Nielsen/Wittmer 2:11.761 92.895 13.320 7 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
29 5 73 GTD Lindsey/Pumpelly 2:12.213 92.578 13.772 8 Porsche 911 GT America

Race time is 12:35 p.m. EDT Saturday with FOX Sports 2 providing the live TV broadcast beginning at 12:30 p.m. The race will be rebroadcast in its entirety by FOX Sports 1 at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and the IMSA smartphone app.