Backstretch Motorsports

Will the fourth time be the charm for Lucas Luhr? Audi’s German factory driver certainly hopes so. Luhr earned his fourth career pole position at Road America on Friday and was the fastest overall qualifier for the Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable. His lap of 1:46.935 (136.277 mph) gave him a 0.41-second margin over Andretti Green Racing’s Franck Montagny.

Luhr will drive in Saturday’s four-hour race with Marco Werner with the duo having won three overall races and the last five LMP1 rounds. They comfortably lead the class championship by 58 points over Audi teammate Emanuele Pirro. Luhr hasn’t won from pole position at Road America after three previous fast qualifiers.

Luhr was 0.73 seconds better than Allan McNish’s qualifying record from last year of 1:47.665 (135.353 mph).

Pirro qualified third overall and second in P1 at 1:47.579 (135.461 mph). He will drive with newcomer Marcel Fässler in the second R10 TDI. Intersport Racing’s Jon Field qualified the AER-powered Lola B06/10-AER third in class and eighth overall at 1:48.371 (134.471 mph).

Back in P2, Acura swept the front row for the third straight race as Franck Montagny won his first Series pole position. He will make his third start with his third different teammate - James Rossiter – in the AGR Acura ARX-01b.

Montagny’s time of 1:47.345 (135.757 mph) bested Romain Dumas’ class record from last year by 1.488 seconds and McNish’s 2007 lap, as well. Former Road America Champ Car standout Adrian Fernandez qualified second in class and fourth overall in the Acura that he will drive with Luis Diaz.

Dumas was fifth overall and third in P2 at 1:47.736 (135.264 mph) in the Porsche RS Spyder that he will share with Timo Bernhard. The pairing are the defending overall race winners.

Oliver Gavin earned his 17th career Series pole position and third at Road America with a lap of 2:01.235 in the Corvette C6.R that he will drive with Olivier Beretta. The Briton was 0.641 seconds better than Jan Magnussen in the other Corvette and more than three seconds quicker than Bell Motorsports’ Aston Martin DBR9.

Gavin and Beretta have won the last three GT1 championships but have captured just one victory this season (St. Petersburg) and are on favorable ground. They won together here in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

In GT2, Tafel Racing’s Dirk Mueller won his first Series pole position in seven years. His lap of 2:06.083 was 1.108 seconds under Jamie Melo’s previous class record from 2007. In fact, the four quickest cars were under last year’s pole time.

Mueller, whose last pole was at Mosport in August 2000, was 0.292 seconds faster than Risi Competizione’s Melo as Ferrari swept the front row for the first time this season. Next was the class-championship leading Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister at 2:06.415. He and Wolf Henzler lead Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher by 4 points in the driver championship.

The Generac 500 at Road America presented by Time Warner Cable is scheduled for Saturday, August 9 from Elkhart Lake, Wis. The four-hour race will start at 4 p.m. CT with SPEED televising the race starting at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 10. XM will air the race from 4 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday via Sports Nation Channel 144. Live radio coverage will be available from American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA’s Live Timing & Scoring.

Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Friday’s qualifying
1. Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:46.935, 136.28

2. Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; James Rossiter, England; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.345, 135.76

3. Marcel Fässler, Switzerland; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:47.579, 135.46

4. Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.639, 135.39

5. Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:47.736, 135.26

6. Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.774, 135.22

7. Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:48.160, 134.73

8. Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (P1), 1:48.371, 134.47

9. Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:48.492, 134.32

10. Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:48.586, 134.21

11. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:49.454, 133.14

12. Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (P2), 1:51.187, 131.07

13. Ryan Lewis, UK; John Faulkner, Pittsford, NY; Gregor Fisken, Scotland; Lola B06-10 AER (P1), 1:51.359, 130.86

14. Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Creation CA07-002 Judd (P1), 1:55.540, 126.13

15. Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 2:01.235, 120.20

16. Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 2:01.876, 119.57

17. Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, FL; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Aston Martin Vantage (GT1), 2:04.562, 116.99

18. Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:06.083, 115.58

19. Jaime Melo, Brazil; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:06.375, 115.31

20. Wolf Henzler, Germany; Joerg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:06.415, 115.28

21. Richard Westbrook, England; Dirk Werner, Germany; Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:06.593, 115.12

22. Patrick Pilet, France; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:07.522, 114.28

23. Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (GT2), 2:07.742, 114.08

24. Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:08.385, 113.51

25. Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Patrick Friesacher, Austria; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:08.725, 113.21

26. David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (GT2), 2:10.330, 111.81

27. Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Francisco Pastorelli, Netherlands; Marc Basseng, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:10.412, 111.74

28. Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:10.872, 111.35

29. Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, GA; Doran Ford GT-R (GT2), 2:10.877, 111.35

30. Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (GT2), 2:11.803, 110.57

31. Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin Vantage (GT2), No Time.