ELKHART LAKE, Wis. Sarel van der Merwe eclipsed the trackqualifying record Friday as he earned the provisional pole for theLowenbrau Classic IMSA sports car race at Road America.
The driver from South Africa, who makes his home inIndianapolis, drove a Corvette GT prototype around the 4-mile,13-turn circuit in 1 minute, 58.064 seconds, an average speed of121.968 m.p.h.
That easily broke the year-old mark of 1:59.881, 120.119, set byKlaus Ludwig of West Germany in a Ford Mustang Probe.
Geoff Brabham of Australia, driving a Nissan GTP ZX-T, and DavyJones, in a BMW GTP, also were under the old mark Friday. Brabhamhad a lap of 120.270, while Jones was caught at 120.157.
All of Friday's qualifying laps are provisional, with anothersession of time trials set for yesterday. The fastest single lap byeach car from the two days of qualifying will determine the startinggrid for today's 500-mile race.
"I think I could have gone a second a lap quicker," said van derMerwe, who tried to wrap up his sixth IMSA pole yesterday. "I nevergot a clear lap. Slow cars seemed to be in every corner. It'sexciting but it's not fun."
Van der Merwe will co-drive with Doc Bundy.
Bundy said the traffic situation at Road America can becritical, particularly with several different IMSA divisions runningon the track at the same time.
"Some of these drivers, particularly some of the ones in theslower cars, are not used to the situation where they are beingpassed by much faster cars.
"We shouldn't be running with these others classes, our cars aretoo fast," Bundy said.
Both van der Merwe and Bundy said they expected the Nissan to bethe car to beat in qualifying, and Brabham said there is more in thatcar than he got out of it Friday.
"I just got here this morning, so we're still getting thingstogether," said the native Australian who will co-drive with ElliottForbes-Robinson. "There's a lot more time left in the car. We shouldget more out of it (Saturday)."
Jones will share the cockpit of the BMW with John Andretti.
The fourth fastest car in Friday's session was the BMW GTPco-driven by John Watson and David Hobbs, both of England. Hobbs wasquick at 119.753.
Al Holbert, who holds a big point lead in his bid to win hissecond consecutive Camel GT championship and fifth over-all title,was fifth at 118.170 in the fast Porsche 962 prototype. Holbert willco-drive with Al Unser Jr.
Ludwig, again driving a Probe, was right behind at 117.612 andwill share that car with Tom Gloy.
The fast GTO division qualifier Friday, as expected, was seriespoint leader Scott Pruett. Driving a Ford Mustang, He set a divisiontrack record with a fast lap of 109.022.
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