By alley - Sep 23, 2015, 10:29 AM ET

At the SCCA National Championship Runoffs: Under the lights at Daytona

Spec Miata Qualifies at Night

Most drivers agreed that Tuesday’s qualifying conditions were not as good as Monday’s. Even so, many classes saw new provisional polesitters claim the top spots, or Monday’s provisional leaders shaved their times to remain in the top positions.

In the popular Spec Miata class, the top-12 qualifiers on Monday all turned in times within half a second of each other, with Todd Lamb of Atlanta, Ga., turning in the fast time. The Miatas ran Tuesday’s qualifying session late in the day at 7:30 p.m. (ABOVE, Mark Weber photo) to prepare the drivers for Friday night’s race under the lights – the first race in SCCA Runoffs history to be intentionally run after dusk.

“This will be amazing to make history once again, by having the first-ever night race at the Runoffs with Spec Miata,” said Mazda Motorsports Director John Doonan.

In the Tuesday evening qualifying session, Andrew Carbonell (RIGHT, Jeff Zurschmeide photo) claimed the provisional pole with a time of 2:18.661, edging Lamb back to fourth.

Two qualifying sessions remain for all classes, and pressure is mounting for all drivers to settle on their race setup. Drivers without compatible drafting partners at this stage are at a serious disadvantage on Daytona’s long straights and sweeping banked curves.

Official Tuesday qualifying results

Runoffs Driver Spotlight – Jordan Bupp

Jordan Bupp of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has a plan to win the GT-2 championship this weekend, in his second attempt at the Runoffs. Bupp entered GT1 back in 2007 at Heartland Park Topeka, but he was taken out of the race in a first-lap incident.

“My Runoffs history is not very good, but I’ve done a bunch of Trans-Am and Grand Am since then, so hopefully that will count for something,” Bupp says.

When he’s not at the track, Jordan runs the American Speed Factory in Fort Lauderdale, modifying and tuning late model domestic cars. So it’s fitting that Jordan would turn up in a Ford Mustang (LEFT, photo courtesy of Jordan Bupp) built by Mike Cope Racing Enterprises, and it’s no surprise that he’s been fastest in both Monday and Tuesday qualifying.

“It was a driver’s worst nightmare for qualifying – it was hot and windy, and sand gets on the track, but I picked up on yesterday’s qualifying time, and I’ve got the next guy covered,” Bupp says.

Bupp credits his good friend and drafting partner Bobby Kennedy with help in getting to the front of the qualifying grid.

“Bobby and I always run together. We have very similar Mustangs and we’ve been friends for a long time. We can run nose-to-tail anywhere in the country and not run into each other. We have a strategy to hook up at the start and try to leave everyone behind,” Bupp says.

Professional racing experience shows, and Jordan is quick to thank his sponsors: “American Speed Factory, of course, and Mike Cope Race Cars, but most importantly I need to thank my crew chief Todd Coury,” he says.

First Championship Race for SRF3

2015 will mark the first national championship for the new third-generation SCCA Enterprises Spec Racer Ford class, known in the paddock as SRF3. The new class will completely replace the existing SRF class at the end of 2017.

The new SRF3 engine is a 1.6-liter unit that is rated at 135 horsepower, compared to the existing 1.9-liter unit rated at 105hp. The new SRF3 cars also race 110 pounds lighter than the last-generation SRF. That makes the third-generation Spec Racer significantly faster, especially on Daytona’s long straights and banked curves. The top time so far this week for a traditional SRF is 2:14.306, while the top third-generation SRF is lapping at 2:08.557.

“The Gen 3 Spec Racer is an incredible improvement. It makes the class even tighter than the second-generation SRF was. It’s a great new opportunity for the club and the class,” says defending SRF national champion Cliff White of Huntsville, Ala.

White (RIGHT, Jeff Zurschmeide photo) has entered both the traditional SRF and the SRF3 classes at this year’s Runoffs, which is extra challenging since the two classes qualify together. After 2 qualifying sessions, White is on pole in SRF, and third on grid in SRF3, with both positions based on his Monday qualifying session.

“Monday was about as close to perfect as you can get for qualifying. We did a driver swap during the 30-minute qualifying session. It couldn’t have gone any better than it did to be in impound with both cars with good times,” White says.