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Road America: K-PAX/3R Racing qualifying report

Pobst & Pilgrim qualify K-PAX Volvos 7th and 8th for Road America SPEED GT race Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (August 15, 2009): Randy Pobst and Andy Pilgrim qualified their K-PAX/3R Racing Volvo S60s into the seventh and eight positions for Sunday's ...

Pobst & Pilgrim qualify K-PAX Volvos 7th and 8th for Road America SPEED GT race

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (August 15, 2009): Randy Pobst and Andy Pilgrim qualified their K-PAX/3R Racing Volvo S60s into the seventh and eight positions for Sunday's World Challenge Road America Grand Prix Presented by StopTech, part of the Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase Weekend at Road America.

Both Pobst and Pilgrim saw limited track time this weekend in preparation of Round 8 of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championships as the K-PAX Team hoped to make their remaining transmissions last for the race. Neither Pobst nor Pilgrim saw this as an issue during qualifying however.

"Well there are different horses for different courses and our K-PAX Volvos are great cars for a track like the Autobahn with all of its tight 90 degree corners but the long straight-a-ways here at Road America are really hurting us," said Randy Pobst, of Gainesville Georgia, who qualified the #1 K-PAX Volvo S60 in 7th with a best lap of 2:17.380.

"It is going to be a lot of work in the race but I love the way my Volvo is handling and it certainly feels fast but we can see it on the track, those other cars are just leaving us for dead on the straights," said Pobst. "But that is the situation in World Challenge GT right now. Our Volvo S60s handle so well and have such great traction out of turns with all wheel drive we have to have less power or we would win every race."

"We are about where we expected, but we didn't expect to be a second and a half of the pace," said Bob Raub of 3R Racing.

"No complaints, we were thinking seven and eight so we are about where we thought we would be and we went quicker than we have all weekend and anytime you can improve with the car I'm happy with that," said Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton Florida, who qualified the #8 K-PAX/3R Racing Volvo S60 into the 8th position with a best lap of 1:17.819.

Pilgrim, who is struggling with what he hopes is only a summer cold, was one of the few drivers who improved his best lap late in the 20 qualifying session as Andy moved up one position as the session drew to a close.

"We didn't get in a good time early because I caught some traffic on my first lap but I have no complaints," said Pilgrim. "There has been a lot of push in the car so Dax [car chief Raub] made a bit of an innovative change, which was almost the opposite of what we expected, and it helped a little bit. Even though it was really late in the session and our tires were really hot it helped because we improved three tenths. So we may have learned a bit for tomorrow's race so that is good."

"We will be aiming for the best finish we can get tomorrow," Pobst said of Sunday's race. "It is enjoyable driving my K-PAX Volvo at Road America but it is a tough track for a car whose biggest strength is handling. My Volvo was as good as it could be for qualifying and was really strong in the corners; there just aren't enough of them here!

"I do see a front coming and there is supposed to be some rain coming tomorrow afternoon so I am crossing all of my fingers and toes and hoping for some rain tomorrow morning because a rain shower in the morning would really help level the playing field here."

-credit: k-p/3rr

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