Mosport: K-PAX/3R Racing qualifying report

Pobst and Galati qualify their K-PAX/3R Porsche GT3s 2nd and 7th for SPEED GT race at Mosport

Bowmanville, Ontario (August 23, 2008): Randy Pobst qualified his #1 K-PAX/3R Racing GT3 in 2nd for Round 7 of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championships Presented by Toyo Tires here at Mosport Park in Ontario Canada. Michael Galati qualified the #23 K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche in the 7th position.

For Randy Pobst, of Gainesville Florida, his qualifying run was both good news and bad as his first lap time of 1:23.118 stood up for 2nd best on the day in a qualifying session shortened when the #06 Pontiac GTO of Joey Scarallo exploded in flames coating a good portion of the track in oil.

The bad was that when Pobst, who was first out of the pits for qualifying, came flying down the back straight he caught up to two cars on their out lap running side by side. Randy had to take evasive action that might have cost him a shot at the pole.

"I am thrilled and frustrated as I could be all at the same time," said Randy Pobst after qualifying 2nd. "My race engineer Will Moody is on a new tact and has made great strides in the handling and grip of my K-PAX Porsche. I didn't think that it was possible because it was working so well.

"I had a heck of a good lap going and guess what, at the end of the back straight and two guys were going slowly into the corner. In World Challenge qualifying we all make a great effort to stay out of everyone's way and one of the privileges of being a points' leader is that you get to go out first and have a clean track but when I got to the end of the straight there were two cars going side by side at about 80 miles per hour while we are going about 155. I had no place to go, I had to go around them and then I lost the pole by only a couple of tenths.

So I am sad about that but I am really happy that the K-PAX Porsche is so fast and we are starting on the front row. The 3R Racing crew really know how to make these Toyo tires work and have given me an excellent Porsche for the race today. I can't wait!

"Having those slow guys in front and not looking in their mirrors just breaks my heart because I think my little K-PAX Porsche had a pole in it today!" .

Michael Galati, of Olmstead Ohio, qualified his #23 K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche 911 GT3 in 7th with a time of 1:23.475 and will be looking to move up as the race progresses although that might prove difficult due to the strength and depth of the field. The top 12 cars all qualified within 1 second of each other.

"I was hoping to do a little bit better but the car had a little bit of a push in just a couple of corners and that was all it took to bump me back on the grid," said Michael Galati. "The competition in the SPEED World Challenge Series is so close that you have to be almost perfect to do well.

"Then there was all of that oil out there and the session was over. I'm not sure if I could have done any better but it would have been nice to be able to give it a try. We should have a good car for the race so we will see what happens."

Randy Pobst and Michael Galati and the K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars are ready to take on the strong SPEED GT field which will take their traditional standing start on Saturday August 23th 2008 at 6:30 pm Eastern Time for Round 7 of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Presented by Toyo Tires here at Mosport.

The race can be seen on SPEED TV on Wednesday August 27th at 1:00 pm Eastern Time.

-credit: www.kpaxracing.com