Laguna - Friday Practice and Qualifying

Friday October 9, 2009

Qualifying

3:30 - No. 45 fifth and No. 44 thirteenth in today's qualifying session. No. 3 Corvette on the pole. We'll see you back here tomorrow for morning warmup at 9:45 am PT!

3:21 - 9 minutes left. Engineer Stefan Pfeiffer calls Joerg into the pits - he is P5. The top 5 cars are within four-tenths of one another. No. 3 Corvette is P1; P 62 Ferrari is P2, No. 4 Corvette is P3; No. 87 Porsche is P4. The No. 44, which used the session to finish setup, is P13.

3:19 - The No. 3 Corvette is now P1. Joerg still P4. 10 minutes left.

3:17 - Pierre takes P1 again in the No. 62 with a 1:23.220. Joerg is now P4 with a 1:23.416.

3:14 - Pierre Kaffer dropped a wheel off and lost a lap. He was in P1 at the time. Now the Corvettes are P1 and P2. Joerg's fast lap is coming up.

3:10 pm PT - Green flag on qualifying. Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45 in pit lane, they are fueling, and he will be out shortly for qualifying. Seth Neiman is in the No. 44.

3:00 - Chckered flag on the last practice session. 10 mins until qual.

2:54 -Joerg pits again and they make the decision to reverse the last setup changes. They will revert back then he should have time to do one more lap before the session ends. Qualifying begins at 3:10.

2:50 - No. 87 now P1, No. 45 P2. 10 minutes left in the session.

2:43 - Joerg is in the pits for a bar change before qualifying.

2:38 - Joerg is now P1 in the No. 45. 22 minutes left in the session. Johannes van overveek is in the No. 44.

2:30 - Joerg is in the No. 45 for the second half of the session. Seth Neima is still in the No. 44.

2:23 - Patrick is in the pits for a setup change.

2:18 - Patrick is P2 - 1:24.582. The times are gradually dropping as the tires come in.

2:13 pm - The No. 4 Corvette is now P1. Patrick p3.

2:10 pm - Good afternoon from Laguna. We are ten minutes into the one hour practice session. Patrick Long is in the No. 45 and Seth Neiman is in the No. 44. Patrick is currently P2. Qualifying begins at 3:10. Joerg will qualify the No. 45 and Seth Neiman the No. 44.


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10:45 am - Checkered is out on the session - No. 45 was P7 and No. 44 P9 in the session. We'll be back with you today at 2:00 for this afternoon's session. Reminder if you are at the track today we have an exclusive autograph session with Patrick and Joerg in front of the Lizard store in vendor village - today at noon.

10:37 am - Patrick is in the pits for a rear shock change. He will finish out the session. Seth Neiman is still out in the No. 44 and will finish out the session for that Porsche.

10:28 am - Patrick Pits for the crew to make a front shock change. He will finish out the session after the change.

10:15 - Green flag. Seth Neiman is now in the No. 44 and Patrick Long in the No. 45. 30 minutes left in the practice session. There will be one more practice session this afternoon at 2:00, just before GT2 qualifying which starts at 3:10.

10:12 - Red flag to assist the No. 88 prorotype which is stuck in Turn 8 and blocking the track. Looks like he is able to continue, so we'll go green shortly.

10:07 - Green flag - both Lizard Porsches are back on track. In the No. 45, Joerg is now P2. In the No. 44, Johannes is P4.

10:03 - Red flag with a Challenge Porsche in the gravel. There are 8 Challenge Porsches entered for tomorrow - it's a large field for his track - 33 cars, including 14 GT2.

9:57 am - Joerg now P1 and Johannes P3. Joerg pits for the crew to get tire temps and pressures and get the first feedback from Joerg on setup changes.

9:52 AM - Joerg is now P3 in the session. Times are several seconds slower than yesterday afternoon's session, due to the cool track. After five laps, the tires are just coming in.

9:45 am PT - Good morning from cool and foggy Laguna Seca. We are just a few minutes away from morning practice. Yesterday's practice sessions went well. Joerg had the fastest time of the second session in the No. 45 and the top 8 GT2 cars were within about five tenths of a second of one another.

With this morning's cool temperatures and a green track it will take some time for the cars to get up to speed. The track temperature is about 59 degrees.

In the No. 45, Joerg is out on track. He is bedding in brakes, and testing some setup and diff changes from yesterday. Today engineer Stefan Pfeifer will move through a series of additional aero/suspension setup changes in the one hour morning practice. Joerg will do half the session, then turn it over to Patrick Long.

In the No. 44, Johannes van Overbeek is out on track.