ViperExchange Post-Belle Isle Qualifying Report

Ben Keating qualified the No. 33 ViperExchange.com/ Gas Monkey Garage Dodge Viper GT3-R sixth Friday for tomorrow’s Sports Car Classic at the Detroit Grand Prix on the Raceway at Belle Isle Park.

The Sports Car Classic 100-minute sprint race can be seen live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) this Saturday, June 4, at 12:30 p.m. EDT and is Round 4 of 10 for the GT Daytona (GTD) division in the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Keating turned his top lap time of 1:32.073 on his ninth and final flying lap of the 15-minute qualifying session but was looking or a little bit more.

“I definitely had hoped to have a better qualifying session,” Keating said. “My best lap I made a mistake right there at the end and, quite frankly, I'm grateful I didn't put it into the wall. It was one of those kind of mistakes, and I think it would have put me in third, which with the people that were out there qualifying, would have been good.” 

Several GTD teams opted to qualify with their faster professional drivers at the wheel on Friday, not the usual practice. 

“About half the teams out there qualified with their pros which is really strange in a 100-minute race,” Keating said. “I'll be shocked if we don't have a yellow and it's really hard for me to understand why they would do that strategy. If I had it to do all over again we would do the same thing. I still think that we ran the right strategy.”

Keating’s professional co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen clocked in second fastest in the No. 33 in both of Friday’s practice sessions before qualifying.

“I think the car is pretty quick,” Bleekemolen said. “It is going to be interesting with different strategies out there. Passing is really hard, we know that, but hopefully we can prove it is not impossible. It’s always a challenge between the walls, you don’t have any room for error, which is what I like about it. It’s real fun to drive between the walls, and hopefully we can stay out of the wall and move up some spots.”

Race-day Saturday begins with at 30-minute warm-up at 8 a.m. with the featured 100-minute Sports Car Classic scheduled to go green that afternoon at 12:40 p.m. 

About ViperExchange.com: ViperExchange.com is the largest Dodge Viper and exotic cars licensed dealer located just Northwest of Houston, Texas. With over 100 Dodge Vipers typically for sale and more arriving daily for sale, ViperExchange.com has combined the largest inventory in the world of new and pre-owned Dodge Vipers. ViperExchange.com also offers the best prices and discounts. Special orders, specific model searches and financing options are also available. For more information, visit ViperExchange.com directly, Twitter @ViperExchange and Facebook at Facebook.com/Viper-Exchange.

About Gas Monkey Garage: In 2002, Richard Rawlings launched Gas Monkey Garage. The Garage created and transported automobiles for customers worldwide. In September 2013, Rawlings started Gas Monkey Bar N' Grill in Northwest Dallas with a second location at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport opened in March 2014. In October 2014, Gas Monkey Live, a venue dedicated predominantly to live music, was opened. In 2016, Gas Monkey Garage will partner in three motorsports efforts with the ViperExchange.com Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Gas Monkey Garage Special in the 100th Indy 500 and the Laughlin Motorsports Pro Stock in the NHRA Mello Yello Series.