VIR: Synergy Racing qualifying report

ALTON, Va. (October 8, 2005) -- Rainy weather forced the cancellation of Rolex Sports Car Series qualifying for the VIR 400 on Saturday. However, Synergy Racing was among the teams that took to the track for an extra practice session in the wet conditions, where the team showed even in the rain they could find speed at their home track.

Synergy's No. 80 Porsche of points-leader Craig Stanton (Long Beach, Calif.) and David Murry (Atlanta, Ga.), led the GT field during the extra practice with a 2:10.228 lap, more than two seconds quicker than any other GT entry during the session.

With qualifying cancelled, the starting grid for the VIR 400 will be set by team point standings, giving the No. 80 Porsche a front-row position on the GT grid for Sunday's race. Stanton will start the race, and Murry will take the wheel midway through as the duo aims for their first win of the season and a chance to extend Stanton's five-point lead in the driver standings as the championship race draws to an end.

Brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle (Aventura, Fla.) also showed an impressive pace in the Rx.com No. 8 BMW Doran Daytona Prototype by turning the third quickest time overall with a 2:07.272 lap. But with the grid being set by points, the brothers will have to start 13th overall for Sunday's race.

The grid position was a disappointment for the Frisselles, as their Rx.com Daytona Prototype has been on the pace in every session this weekend, and they were hoping to show their speed in qualifying.

"I guess it's just more cars for us to pass," said Brian. "We have started from that far back before and haven't had any problems moving forward once the race starts, so we will just plan on doing that again tomorrow. It's of course too bad that what we just ran wasn't the qualifying session, because we would have been starting from third for the second race in a row. But the car is strong, so we'll just go for it tomorrow."

The sprint event is the penultimate round of the 2005 championship as the young brother-driving duo are hungry to finish the season off with some strong results.

"We are looking forward to the race tomorrow," said Burt. "Rx.com and Synergy Racing have a lot of guests here this weekend, and hopefully we can get a good result for all of them. We haven't run that much so far this weekend because every time we have gone out, we have been right on the pace and so there's been no point of risking anything out there. Brian was third fastest this afternoon in the wet without even pushing. So even though we aren't starting where we should be, we will be good tomorrow as long as we can avoid any trouble."

The Rolex Series youngest female driver, Mae Van Wijk (Houston, Texas) and her co-driver, local favorite Del. Danny Marshall (Danville, Va.), decided to sit out of the extra session on Saturday. Their No. 81 Porsche GT3 Cup sponsored by autobysite.com and pipeservicestt.com, will start eighth on the GT grid on Sunday.

The 77-lap VIR 400 will get underway on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, and will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel.

-sr-