Virginia (VIR): Qualifying quotes

Rolex Sports Car Series qualifying for Sunday's VIR 500 was cut short today at Virginia International Raceway due to unsafe track conditions caused by rain. The GT and American GT classes were able to qualify under wet conditions, but heavy puddling on the front straightaway caused officials to black flag the SportsRacing Prototype and SportsRacing Prototype II qualifying session after just one lap. While the GT and AGT qualifying times will stand, the SRP and SRPII entries will be gridded in front of them by the current team point standings, in accordance to the Grand American rulebook.

Terry Borcheller, Rand Racing #8 Nissan Lola
VIR 500 Overall Polesitter

"The track actually wasn't that bad in spots, but there were some areas like on the front straightaway in particular where the gloss of the asphalt and the glare from the sky made it real hard to tell the difference between a puddle and just a slippery spot."

Didier Theys, Doran Lista Racing #27 Judd Dallara
VIR 500 Outside Polesitter

"Well, its really wet. A wet track is okay, but this is not just a wet track. It's like a big river, and its more difficult in the straightaways than in the corners. At least in the corner you have some control of the car; you have some sliding but you can control it. In the straightaways you're just a passenger."

Jack Willes, Dick Greer Racing - Wendy's #82 Corvette
American GT Fastest Qualifier

"The track was just inconsistent. You have some grip in some areas and other areas it's puddled up. You're driving along and your car just drives two car lengths over to the right or the left. It's not bad. If I had a little better defrosting system, I probably would have been Okay. It turned out that the last lap was the hot one for me. It got a little squirrelly coming down the pits, but other than that it was pretty stable through the whole back straightaway. So I just laid it down and I think that's where I made all my time up."

Spencer Pumpelly, ZIP Racing #34 Porsche GT3 R
GT Fastest Qualifier

"The conditions where tough because it was difficult to see where the puddles were, and as soon as you hit a puddle the car would become really unstable and move around. The first lap was the definitely the lap to turn the fast lap, and I think that is part of the reason we got the pole. The team decided to get the car out early so that if the rain got heavier we would have a good track."

-grand am-