By Grand-Am
DANVILLE, Va. - Given his turn to qualify the Spirit of Daytona Chevrolet/Coyote, Paul Edwards stepped up Friday and ran a lap of 1:44.984 (112.131 mph) to capture the pole position for Saturday's Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway.
It was the team's second consecutive GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 pole, with Antonio Garcia leading qualifying for the recent Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.
"The team decided at the beginning of the year that they were going to treat us both as ‘A' drivers," said Edwards, who won his first career DP pole. "They said we were going to flip-flop through the year with who starts and who finishes. It's a good experience for both of us, gives us the full-rounded package of starting and finishing races."
Memo Rojas - who is seeking to give the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley co-driven by Scott Pruett its seventh consecutive victory - appeared to take the pole with a lap of 1:44.935. On his next lap, through, Rojas went wide in Turn 17 and came to a stop, bringing out a black flag. Under GRAND-AM qualifying rules, drivers who cause a qualifying session to be stopped are penalized their fastest lap. As a result, the No. 01 will start sixth.
"I was a little concerned when I heard Memo had pipped me by half a tenth," Edwards said. "I was on a flyer to better the pole, but then he had an incident and threw up some dirt. It will be nice starting on the pole, trying to get the Bounty award."
GRAND-AM has posted a $25,000 "Bounty" for a team that can halt the TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates winning streak.
Jan Magnussen won his second GT pole of the season, running a lap of 1:53.727 (103.511 mph) in the No. 57 Stevenson Automotive Group Camaro co-driven by Robin Liddell. He will be joined on the front row by Boris Said, who went 1:54.380 (102.920) in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette co-driven by Eric Curran.
The Bosch Engineering 250 will take the green flag at 3 p.m. ET Saturday. The race will be televised on SPEED, beginning at 5 p.m. ET Saturday.
