Guy Smith turned in an amazing lap of 1:13.927 in the G-Oil Dyson Lola Mazda, almost .7 faster than the competition, to win the pole for the Modspace American Le Mans Series Monterey at Laguna Seca, Smith’s second pole in a row.
I really wanted to get pole position,” Smith told ESPN3.com. “Modspace, G-Oil, Mazda, it’s their home circuit, so I couldn’t think of a better place to do it. It’s a really good day for Mazda and hopefully we can give them a good day tomorrow.”
With 36 cars on the grid, traffic will be a real issue, a look at what happened to Audi at Silverstone shows what the slightest inattention can do to the fastest car.
On top of that, track conditions will change constantly. The race will start in early afternoon; the track will get warmer, then in the evening the fog will roll in off the ocean, and the track will cool. Engineers will need to be constantly adapting and anticipating to make sure their cars have the right setup.
