Mid-Ohio: Farnbacher Loles Racing qualifying report

Farnbacher Loles grabs pole at Mid-Ohio

For the second consecutive race, a Farnbacher Loles Porsche starts from the pole in the Grand-Am Rolex series. Eric Lux turned a 1:25.892 in qualifying to grab the top spot in his #86 Wheel Enhancement sponsored Porsche GT3 Cup at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Lux's teammate Leh Keen posted a slightly quicker time in his #87 Porsche during the opening part of the session to put both cars on the front row. But Keen will have to start from the back of the field due to a ride height violation. Nonetheless, it was a strong performance for both drivers and both cars.

Joining Lux in the #86 this weekend is Dominik Farnbacher, who is filling in for Wolf Henzler. After the qualifying session, Eric was satisfied with the effort. "I pushed hard in the first part of the session, and overheated the tires. The black flag came out for a few minutes (for a car off-track), which gave the tires a chance to cool down. After the restart, it took about three laps for the heat to get back in them. And I was able to get the hot lap near the end of the session. The car was really good from the first lap. I'm glad we could get on the front row again. It's just too bad the 87 couldn't be there with us.

Keen and his co-driver Dirk Werner will have some extra work for the race. He spoke after the rule from the officials was announced. "I was only able to get one hot lap in before the session was stopped. After the restart, I couldn't improve on that lap, but as it turned out that was the fastest time. It is unfortunate that we have to start in the back though, and we'll have to be very careful coming through traffic, but the car is great."

After the session, team principal Gregory Loles got the word on the ruling. "While both cars were perfect, to make things more interesting, the 87 will have to start from the back. A repair on the splitter came loose, which scraped on the ride height bar. Those are the rules. But we aren't concerned about the back row start because the cars are running strong and 2 hours and 45 minutes is a long time. The drivers did a fantastic job and the crews nailed the set-up. We're really looking forward to tomorrow's race."

-credit: flr