SCCA NEWS: Curran Takes SPEED GT Mid-Ohio Pole

Photo by John Thawley LEXINGTON, Ohio (Jul. 21, 2007) - Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., captured his first pole of the season for tomorrow's SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Presented By Trenton Forging race. Tommy Archer, of Duluth, Minn., will start second.

Although he has two race wins and three front-row starts already this season, Curran picked up his very first SCCA SPEED GT pole of 2007 for Round Seven of the Championship at Mid-Ohio. Curran lapped the 13-turn, 2.258-mile track in 1:25.624 (94.936 mph) behind the wheel of his No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette. The time established a new SCCA SPEED GT qualifying lap record.

"These guys are working real hard to get the No. 30 Whelen car up to speed,” Curran said. “It"s been a tough season and we’re trying to get the car back on the podium and get some good finishes and try to gain some more points.

“I knew we had a good car on the Thursday test day. I didn’t have a choice to be here yesterday for practice, but we made a bunch of changes to the car and got it up to speed Thursday.

“It took a little bit to get some heat in the tires. It’s definitely a cool morning and there was a little dampness on the track as well.”

This is Curran’s second pole in less than 24 hours. The busy driver set pole for a Koni Challenge race at Barber Motorsports Park yesterday and was already on a plane bound for Alabama shortly after qualifying at Mid-Ohio.

Tommy Archer, of Duluth, Minn., will start Sunday’s race second. Archer led the qualifying session early and continued to improve to a time of 1:25.718 (94.831 mph) in his No. 5 Mopar/Autohaus Motosport Dodge Viper. While he’s had much success in other forms of racing at Mid-Ohio, it is Archer’s first front-row start at the circuit in SPEED World Challenge competition.

Row two is filled with the K-PAX Porsches. Current point leader Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., will start his No. 22 K-PAX Racing LLC/Jim Haughey Porsche 911 GT3 third on the grid after turning a 1:25.792 (94.750 mph). Michael Galati, of Olmsted, Ohio, put in a 1:26.031 (94.486 mph) in his No. 23 K-PAX Racing LLC/Jim Haughey Porsche 911 GT3, good enough for fourth.

Fastest in the morning practice on Friday, Doug Peterson, of Bonita Springs, Fla., will start his No. 87 3-Dimensional Services Chevrolet Corvette fifth with a 1:26.147 (94.359 mph). Peterson noted that a problem with the Corvette did not allow him to turn a quick lap until late in the session.

Last year’s winner Lou Gigliotti (Chevrolet Corvette) starts sixth, followed by the Cadillac CTS-V teammates of Lawson Aschenbach and Andy Pilgrim. Brian Kubinski (Chevrolet Corvette) and Michael McCann (Dodge Viper) complete the top ten.

The SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT at Mid-Ohio Presented by Trenton Forging race will go green Sunday at 4:15 p.m. (EDT). Visit www.world-challenge.com for live timing and results.

The race will air Saturday, July 28 at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) on SPEED.