Porsche cars show speed at Montreal, take front row spot

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Cars Show Speed in GRAND-AM’s Sole Visit to Canada; Brumos Racing To Start on Outside of Row 1; Magnus Porsche from 7th in Montreal

#59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3 Cup: Leh Keen, Andrew Davis

Photo by: Kenneth May

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, August 17, 2012 – The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Series is making its only visit of the season to Canada this weekend as it joins the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Montreal, Quebec park circuit is proving a strong venue for the pair of Porsches in the GT class of the two-class sports car racing series. The No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry turned the second-quickest time during today’s 15-minute qualifying session for Saturday’s two-hour Montreal 200. The No. 44 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Magnus Racing was seventh quick.

Brumos Racing has been on a roll as of late. The last two races – the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Watkins Glen 200 – have each yielded podium finishes of third-place. Andrew Davis (Athens, Ga.) lapped the 2.709-mile, 15-turn street course in one-minute, 39.162 seconds to claim the second starting position for he and teammate Leh Keen (Charleston, S.C.). Davis set his quick time on his fourth lap but was never outside the top-two during the session. This is the third time this season the celebrated Brumos’ colors will start from the front row. The previous top-two starts were a pole position in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and second at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Andrew Davis on his qualifying run: “The guys did an awesome job. The Brumos Porsche was quick out of the box here in Montreal. We haven’t even made any huge changes. A few minor changes made the car even better. We knew we had a good car for qualifying so we just let her rip. I had a mega lap and was really, really happy with it. I thought it was going to be good enough for pole but we just barely missed it. It is such a game of the smallest fractions of time but we’re still able to put our Porsche 911 up on the front row against a strong field. We’re really happy and looking forward to a strong race tomorrow. I am really proud of the effort the guys put together and of our 911.”

John Potter will start seventh after a series of laps that had him near the top of the grid for much of the session. The Salt Lake City, Utah-resident turned a 1:41.011 on his seventh circuit of the track which is built on the former Montreal Olympic site and named for legendary Canadian Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve. Potter will start tomorrow’s race before handing the wheel of the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car over to teammate Andy Lally (Dacula, Ga.). Despite some down moments, the Magnus team has enjoyed some of its greatest successes this season. The team, owned by Potter, has captured two of the sport’s most prestigious events: the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Brickyard Grand Prix. In the process, they were awarded the inaugural North American Endurance Championship (NAEC). The NAEC is a three race championship-within-a-championship that focused on GRAND-AM’s three longest events (Daytona, the Six Hours of The Glen, and the inaugural running of the Indianapolis event).

“I think we have a fast car for tomorrow, this track seems to be good for the Porsches,” offered owner/driver John Potter. “It's a tight field and we're all so close. Tomorrow could be anyone's day. Congrats to Andrew [Davis] and the Brumos guys. It's great to show how strong the Porsches are.”

Davis’ best lap was a shockingly narrow 0.066 seconds from capturing the pole. Instead, the right to take the green flag first goes to the No. 57 Chevrolet Camaro of Stevenson Motorsports. The pole-earning time of 1:39.096 by John Edwards was 1.915-seconds quicker than Potter’s qualifying lap. Starting third, behind Davis, will be Boris Said in the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro of Marsh Racing.

“We made some good progress today, the guys did a great job,” said Lally, the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year. “John did a great job getting the car up to speed quickly. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Happy to see Brumos do well, great job by Andrew.”

Source: Porsche