Corvette Racing: Mags Wins First Pole for New GT2 Corvette C6.R

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Keith Cornett
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Magnussen Wins First Pole for new GT2 Corvette C6.R

Jan Magnussen won the the first pole in Corvette Racing’s GT2 era (soon to be just GT) Friday afternoon at Laguna Seca. Mags ran a fastest lap time of 1:23.053 to take the pole at the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca. Oliver Gavin and the #4 Corvette C6.R finished third behind the #62 Ferrari with a lap of 1:23.283.

With today’s effort, Mangussen wins his 10th career ALMS pole and his third straight at Laguna Seca (two in GT1 and one in GT2).

“The Michelins came in really quickly and I kept going faster and faster,” said Magnussen, “In practice I didn’t expect to be fighting for the pole, but we expected to be up near the front. It seemed at the end of every session, the Porsches or Ferrari would do a very fast lap and put us down the order a little bit. To be on pole is just fantastic.”

“The way that we set up the Corvette C6.R, it’s not a qualifying setup – it’s a race setup,” he said. “It’s made to go faster every lap. Obviously we cannot run this fast in the beginning of the race because we will have a lot more fuel, and we’ll expect the car to behave a little differently, but it should go faster and faster. We’ve had a history of doing that.”

Just as the cars got out on the track for qualifying, a race broke out between Oliver Gavin and the #87 Porsche. Gavin was able to get inside and then had clear road to begin his runs.

Gavin jumped from fifth to third on the qualifying list with his final effort.

“The car was going faster and faster as the tires were coming in,” Gavin said. “The car felt very good, but not absolutely perfect, with a touch of mid-corner understeer. Catching traffic on the final lap was a bit frustrating, but Jan had to pass him as well. You always want to be quick, and we’re in the hunt, but not on the pole. Well done to Jan, he did a great job.”

Corvette Racing closes out 2009 at the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The four-hour race is scheduled to start at 2:45 PM PDT on Saturday, October 10. SPEED will broadcast the race tape-delayed on Sunday, October 11, at 2:30 p.m. EDT.



Related:
Corvette Racing Wraps Up GT2 Testing at Monterey’s Laguna Seca
Corvette Racing: 2009 Petit Le Mans Photo Gallery
[VIDEO] Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan on the Direct Injection Controversy
Corvette Racing: Ferrari and Porsche Complain to ACO

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