A.J. Allmendinger on Mid-Ohio provisional pole

Runaway Barber Dodge Pro Series points leader, A.J. Allmendinger added another point to his huge lead by taking the provisional pole for Sunday's race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Allmendinger's hot lap of 1:24.676 seconds (96.033 mph.), while good enough to top the session, did not threaten the Mid-Ohio lap record for the Barber cars. Allmendinger now holds a nearly unbeatable 137 to 84 advantage over Marc Breuers with only three races remaining after this weekend's race.

Julio Campos was second fastest, with Rafael Sperafico third. Breuers and Leonardo Maia, in fourth and fifth, were the only other drivers to turn laps faster than one minute, twenty-five seconds.

The Barber series drivers lost a large chunk of their 30-minute qualifying session when one of the identical Dodge powerplants let go on the pit straight before anyone had recorded a hot lap on warmed tires. With the green waving again at the 15 minutes to go mark, the drivers had only a few useful shots at the pole.

Campos and Breuers led the time chart for most of the session, with Memo Rojas and Allmendinger lurking in third and fourth. With six minutes left, the fast guys got their times down into the 1 minute, 25 second range, but two minutes later Allmendinger turned the first sub-1:25 of the session.

Despite his early-session speed, Rojas fell back to ninth in the final order, with Christian Szymczak, Davy Cook and Josh Rehm also bettering his time. Tenth fastest was Dan Di Leo.