John Edwards set a new track record on the way to GT class pole position ahead of the Rolex Series Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.
The Stevenson Motorsports driver set a 1:26.610 seconds, despite the fifteen-minute qualifying being the only session of the weekend to see a dry track following rain throughout Thursday’s practice sessions.
“I think we rolled off with a pretty good car,” said Edwards, who will share driving duties in the No. 57 with Robin Liddell. “We’ve got some things to improve on the balance but we’re really looking good for the race I think. So we’ll see. Boris [Said] is close and I’m sure the Ferraris are a bit better than what they showed in qualifying especially once the finishing guys get in. So it’s going to be tight but we’re in a good spot to start off.”
“It is great to be on the pole for the GT race,” added team manager Mike Johnson. “We’ve had such a difficult season in GT this year. We started up front at Circuit of the Americas but then had to do a motor change and then got involved in someone else’s crash. Barber has never been very good to us. We had one win a few years ago but since then it’s been tough. It’s really going to be a crapshoot on the weekend because nobody has done any dry running and with this new surface being all diamond cut, we could have good tire life or we could have horrible tire life. So the good news is that we haven’t used any tires yet and it’s a shorter race so starting first is the best we can do.”
Stevenson Motorsports also managed to place seventh in qualifying for the Continental Tyres Sports Car Challenge, with the session taking place just before the Rolex Sports Car Series session.
“I think we had a better car than seventh today but Matt [Bell] just kind of got stuck in some traffic and was in the wrong spot in the qualifying run,” continued Johnson. “But Matt’s the type of guy that you can put him anywhere and he’ll find a way to the front. Our whole goal in the GS race is to just keep those top-five finishes coming and stay in the hunt for the points.”
