(LEEDS, Ala) 19 July –Spirit of Daytona Racing turned in their best qualifying performance with the V8-Porsche-powered Coyote on Saturday, setting the best grid position for the Coyote chassis while setting the quickest time of any Porsche-powered Daytona Prototype for Sunday’s Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant for round nine of the 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series season. Marc Antoine Camirand and Guy Cosmo will share the driving duties once again on Sunday, with Cosmo handling the qualifying duties on Saturday.
Cosmo dug deep on the 10th of 11 trips around the 2.3-mile Barber Motorsports Park to slot in on the inside of the third row for Sunday’s race. His best lap time stopped the clocks in 1:21.281 seconds to record the fifth best time, only seven-tenths of a second adrift of the pole-sitter and within a whisker of the breaking into the top-3, as the difference was only three hundredths of a second.
“That was fun,” said a delighted Cosmo. “The car was good, and even though the track didn’t have much grip at all, we were strong just like we were in the heat at Homestead. It’s great to be the top Porsche-powered car in the field.”
Cosmo pulled out all the stops on his final burst before the checkered flag hailed the session’s end, noting the continued improvement of the Porsche V8 powered Coyote.
“That last lap was a little hairy-I just sucked it up a little bit more and found some time in the museum corner and them kept that gap for the rest of the lap, as it was going great. The car has been consistent all weekend, and getting our fastest lap on the last lap of the session was proof positive of that,” Cosmo added.
This is the fourth time in six starts this season that the Spirit of Daytona Racing entry has qualified in the Top-10, improving on their previous best result of sixth, achieved at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“That was a good one. The (number) 10 (pole-sitting) car did the right thing to get the fast lap on that very first lap, but our car is really consistent, so Guy was able to get his fastest lap on the very last lap. Guy did a heck of a job and he really got up on the wheel there,” team owner Troy Flis commented. “We’re really happy with this result, and it’s encouraging because we think we’ve got a really good car for the race tomorrow.”
Hot conditions are expected to prevail once again on Sunday, making for a slippery track surface. Combined with dense GT field traffic, conditions will make for a very busy 250 miles in tomorrow. Having a good racecar that can manage traffic in the early going while keeping something in reserve for the final dash to the finish will be a key to success. The No. 09 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote looks to be on the right track.
Additional information: www.spiritofdaytona.com
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Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
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