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The
car that took Farnbacher Loles Racing to the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car
Series championship was quickest of the seven team cars during the first
qualifying session for the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Thursday. Frank Stippler led
the 32-driver squad, putting the No. 88 (Doncaster Racing) Porsche
10th on the GT grid with a lap of one minute 51.723 seconds on the
3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course in Daytona Beach,
Fla.
"In
general, I'm pleased with the qualifying right now. Overall, we are in the
middle of the field; I think this is okay for a 24-hour qualifying," he said.
"The other drivers are really competitive. I heard that it is the strongest
24-hour competition in the GT class that was ever here, so I'm happy to be part
of it."
Jörg Hardt – the only German driver in the No. 89
(Italian) Porsche – qualified 12thth in the No. 87 (GT Champion) car and Wolf Henzler
14th in the No. 86 (Power) Porsche. Tim Bergmeister was
28th in the No. 83 (Fitness) car, and Ross Bentley and Chris Bingham
qualified the Nos. 85 and 84 (Team Seattle) Porsches 30th and
33rd, in class, 2007 GT driver champion
Dirk Werner was 13 respectively, in the 42-car GT field.
Henzler notched the fastest GT time during Thursday
night practice, bettering his qualifying lap time by two-tenths of a
second.
24-hour
prep
The
No. 83 (Fit) Porsche drivers found interesting ways to prepare for the Rolex 24.
Russell Walker tested his stamina and focus with a six-hour video race. CR Crews
warmed up with a 12-hour kart race. Ben McCrackin has prepared for his three Rolex 24 starts
with his sprint triathlon regimen, which includes 1.5 to 2.5 hours of
cardiovascular training every day.
Team
Seattle
In
11 years of competing at the Rolex 24, Team Seattle has raised $2.7 million for
the Children's Hospital and Regional Care Center in Seattle. The team will raise
an additional half-million dollars this weekend in its 12th and final
Rolex 24 race. Don Kitch Jr., founder of Team Seattle, acknowledged the final
race will be tough for him and his wife Donna.
"I'm on probably the biggest emotional roller-coaster
I've been in motor racing. This event has been such a huge part of Donna's and
my life. To think that I might not be back here next year is a big challenge,"
he said. "But this team is not doing anything that every team in the garage
can't do by linking their effort to a charitable, worthy
cause."
correction
The Team Seattle driver lineups
were incorrectly listed in the Rolex 24 At
Daytona entry list and in the team media kit. The correct combination is:
No. 84 – Chris Bingham, Bill Cotter, Chris Pennington, Don Pickering; No. 85 –
Ross Bentley, Don Kitch Jr., Steve Miller, Chris Pallis.
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