Corvette Racing’s #3 C6.R will be sitting on the pole this weekend for the Tequila Patron ALMS race at Long Beach thanks to Jan Magnussen. Magnussen put together a qualifying lap on the temporary circuit Friday at 1:17.059 (91.940 mph) shattering last year’s qualifying time by 1.086 seconds. Oliver Gavin and the #4 Corvette C6.R were second in the class with a lap of 1:14.465 (91.458 mph).
Bell Motorsports Aston Martin DBR9 did not have a qualifying time listed on today’s results.
“It was a really enjoyable lap – I was out there close to the walls, braking late, and riding the curbs,” Magnussen said after notching his seventh career ALMS pole. “I’m sure I could have massaged the lap a little bit and improved my time, but then you get into the gray area where you might have a faster lap or you might have a broken car. “We’ve been fast since we got here,” said the Dane. “We were faster than last year from the get-go.”
Magnussen employed a five lap strategy that appeared to pay off.
“I was very cautious during the first three laps because we’d set the tire pressures a little low to try to have a couple of stabs at the pole,” Magnussen explained. “It worked out well – when the Michelins came in, my Corvette was perfect.”
The Tequila Patron ALMS race at Long Beach starts at 4:10 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 19. ABC will broadcast the 100-minute race tape-delayed from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 20.
Bondurant School of High Performance Driving
- Greg: This is very interesting news indeed! This just adds to the already large pool of speculation revolving around the highly awaited C7 Corvette. This is an article that I will definetely have to put up on Smokinvette.com and see what...
- mark: Another change? What’s going on?
- Xanthophyll: Very cool. Put me down under the “like” category.
- the STIG: how does one go from ohio state to michigan??? that should be illegal in some way. anyway i wish him the best of luck with the new job.
- Eric Williams: I’m from Zanesville Ohio and it is great to see someone from my hometown at the helm of my favorite sports car.
