Grids Set for SCCA Runoffs

Jim Downing, Andrew Carbonell and Joseph Burton-Harris take pole positions for their respective classes at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs.

After four days of qualifying, the grids are set for the 2015 edition of the National Championship Runoffs Presented by Garmin Virb. Daytona International Speedway has proven a tough nut to crack for many Mazda racers in terms of outright pace, but the racing could be a different story.

One driver who had no problem with pace was Jim Downing. One of only a handful of drivers who competed at a previous Runoffs at Daytona that is also running in the 2015 edition, he has many laps around the track from his IMSA Camel Lights days. He qualified on the pole for Prototype 1 in his Downing Atlanta DAY-O2 Mazda with a 1:49.219 (117.34mph). The accomplished racer grabbed the pole by more than half a second over the second-fastest qualifier. Prototype 1 will run as the last race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon.

Andrew Carbonell used his and BSI Racing's local knowledge to claim the pole for the 62-car Spec Miata. Carbonell has a lot of laps at Daytona racing in the Continental SportsCar Challenge Street Turner class with Freedom Autosport, as well as a Spec Miata, and he used that to his advantage, although his margin was a scant 0.028sec over Selin Rollan. Rollan is also racing from the BSI stable, so if he and Carbonell team up, it could spell trouble for the competition. Alex Bolanos qualified third to make it an all-Miami top three; in fact the top five were Florida drivers.