David Donohue and Darren Law Take Pole for Mid-Ohio

June 20, 2008 — Lexington, OH — 

Running with a new Porsche engine and limited practice time, David Donohue waited until the final minutes of qualifying to shatter the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course track record in qualifying for the EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank, Round 8 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season.

Competitors will take the green flag Saturday at 5:10 p.m. ET (live, SPEED). The race will run 250 miles, 111 laps on the 2.258-mile circuit, with a two hour, 45-minute time limit.

It was the series-leading third pole position of the season for Donohue, who co-drives the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley with CDOC World Team Driver Darren Law. His fastest lap came on his ninth of the 15-minute session

"During our first practice session today, we had a wheel bearing fail and had to change an upright. That's why we spent most of the session in the garage," said Donohue, who won his eighth Daytona Prototype pole. "Then, we changed engines before the second and final practice, and got in only one lap at the end. Altogether, Darren and I each got in about four hot laps each today. I was very pleasantly surprised to win the pole, because we really didn't get to do much to the car today. It's almost the way it rolled off the truck. But the crew really worked hard to do it - they didn't get a break all day today."

Donohue broke Jon Fogarty's year-old Daytona Prototype track record of 1:18.374, 103.718 mph. Fogarty qualified second, running a lap of 1:17.885, 104.369 mph, in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley.

CDOC World Team Driver Mark Wilkins was third in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley, 104.070 mph, followed by Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, 103.924 mph, and Nic Jonsson in the No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola, 103.404 mph.

Rojas is seeking his fifth Daytona Prototype victory of the season. His co-driver, Scott Pruett, was not at Mid-Ohio Friday, practicing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at California's Infineon Raceway. The pair share the point lead in the division, leading Jim Matthews and Marc Goossens by 36 points.

Rounding out the top 10 were Michael Valiante, Ricky Taylor, Guy Cosmo, John Pew and Shane Lewis.

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