Joey Hand Captures His First TOTAL Pole Award Of 2015 At Road America

Subtitle:French Takes Third PC Pole In Four Races On Last-Lap Charge

Given the opportunity to qualify in a late change of plans, Joey Hand delivered. He gave Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates its first TOTAL Pole Award of 2015 in Saturday’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship qualifying for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America.

The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase begins at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday and will be televised on FOX Sports 1.

Hand turned a lap of one minute, 56.452 seconds (125.140 mph) on the 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit in the No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley. With only five laps under dry conditions in his first visit to the circuit in a Prototype, the team decided to have Hand qualify and start the car, and have co-driver Scott Pruett finish Sunday’s race.

Hand will be joined on the front row by Christian Fittipaldi, who turned a lap of 1:57.020 (124.533 mph) in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP. Fittipaldi and co-driver Joao Barbosa are the defending winners of the event.

Corvettes swept the second row. Championship leader Michael Valiante took third in the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP, 1:57.173 (124.370 mph), followed by Ricky Taylor, 1:57.437 (124.090 mph).in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP.

Another Last-Lap Charge Nets French Third PC Pole

James French is making a habit of winning Prototype Challenge (PC) poles on his final lap. For the third time in the last four qualifying sessions, French won the TOTAL Pole Award charging to the checkered flag, running a lap of 1:59.658 in the No. 38 Ric-Man Construction/GO-PUCK/Braille Batteries ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Conor Daly.

All three of his poles came at the expense of Chris Cumming, who once again was leading the session in the No. 11 AutoMaxUSA ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Bruno Junqueira. Cumming settled for second with a lap of 1:59.710.

NEWS AND NOTES

·     Chip Ganassi Racing scored its first Prototype pole since Pruett led qualifying at Long Beach in 2014.

·     In addition to winning the PC pole, French has a hometown advantage. The 23-year-old native of nearby Sheboygan, Wis., has been driving at the circuit since age 14 in the Skip Barber Racing School – although he also raced karts as a youngster in nearby Elkhart Lake.

·     PC points leader Jon Bennett qualified fifth in the No. 54 Flex-Box Composite Resources entry. Bennett and co-driver Colin Braun enter the event leading PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports drivers Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith by three points – 222-219 – with Guasch qualifying four in the No. 52 Cuttwood entry,

·     Sunday’s activity begins with a 20-minute warm-up session at 10 a.m. ET.

QUOTEBOARD

Joey Hand – No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley

“It’s my first pole in the TUDOR championship and my first pole with Chip Ganassi. I’m super excited to be a part of this team and be the guy that does something for them. I’ve been coming here since 2001, so when you have a good race car underneath you it makes for a really fun time. We had a car that was pushing during practice and during qualifying, so I didn’t know what to expect, but the Ganassi guys did a great job making some changes for qualifying.”

James French – No. 38 Ric-Man Construction/GO-PUCK/Braille Batteries ORECA FLM09

“On the laps leading up to the final lap, everything felt good, but it wasn’t all quite there. I was pushing harder, and Chris (Cumming) was too. The trend kept going. I got to the final lap and they said this is my last chance. My coach was really persistent and told me to try harder, so I put my head down and was able to get a good lap together.”