Garcia, Coyote Take First-Ever Pole at Grand Am Rolex Porsche 250

Antonio Garcia earned the #90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote Chevrolet its first pole, and Garcia's too. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)

LEEDS, Ala.—Qualifying for the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series Porsche 250 at Berber Motorsport Park was a series of firsts.

In Daytona Prototypes, Antonio Garcia in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet won his, and the car’s first pole position. Garcia was the circled the 2.3-mile seventeen-turn road track in 1:21.682 at 101.368, the only driver to break 101 mph.

“Everything has been working really well, as we proved in the first two races,” Antonio Garcia told GrandAm.com. “I was very much looking forward to the first road course of the year because last year it was where we were really competitive.

“After two years of working with Spirit of Daytona we have finally put a really good package together with Coyote, and the Chevy engine, engineered by ECR. I think everything ran perfectly,” Garcia continued. “Also, I did a really good lap.

“It’s good to have all of this in the package, and all this effort. I think if everything runs as it has been running this season, we can have our first win as well.”

Jon Fogarty put the #99 Gainsco Riley-Chevrolet second on the grid with a lap of 1:22.178 at 100.756 mph. Ricky Taylor was only .015 seconds behind him, and only .08 mph slower to take third on the DP grid.

In GT, Dane Cameron (who recently won the class pole and co-drove to a class win in LMPC at the ALMS Sebring 12 Hours) earned his first Grand Rolex pole with a lap of 1:31.106 at 90.883 mph in the # 41 Seattle Children’s Hospital RX-8

“I still feel I am getting acclimated to the team. Everyone is starting to gel and we are really making some progress as a team, with the car, and James [co-driver James Gu] … It’s nice to repay all that hard work by our guys with a pole, and for me to get my ffirst one is pretty exciting,” Cameron said to GrandAm.com.

“This is essentially James’ home track because he does a lot of work out her. I live in Atlanta now so this is kind of a home race also, so it’s kind of fun to be close to home and have some more people from the team behind us, out here this weekend.”

Second in GT was Robin Liddell in the #57 Stevenson Automotive Group Chevrolet Camaro at 1:31.360 and 90.630 mph. Third in qualifying was Gunter Schaldach in the 07 The Cool TV/Mobil1 Camaroat 1:31.642and 90.630 mph.

The Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series Porsche 250 from Barber Motorsports Park starts at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 9. The race will be preceded by the Continental Tire Barber 200 at 12:30 p.m., and followed Sunday by the IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama.

Tickets for this action-packed racing weekend are still available. Visit the Barber Motorsports Park website for more information.

The Grand Am Rolex Porsche 250 will be broadcast at 12 p.m. on Sunday, April 10, on SPEED. The IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama will air on April 10 at 3 p.m. on Versus. The Barber 200 will air on April 16 at 2 p.m. on Speed (all times Eastern.)