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Donohue Takes Pole For GAINSCO Grand Prix Of Miami

Homestead, FL – David Donohue raced his Brumos Porsche Riley on the pole for Saturday’s GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, the second Rolex Series race in 2008. The second-generation driver’s speed around the 2.3-mile, 11-turn speedway road course was 113.699 miles per hour.

For Donohue, the fete marked his first pole since the 2003 season. “It is nice to be up front and it is a feather in our cap,” Donohue said after his run. “The Brumos team has put a lot of effort into this car, and the pole represents just a small indicator of the work done. Also, this track seems to favor the Porsche engine, and we work it very hard.”

Darren Law will be Donohue’s co-driver.

Michael Valiante put the SunTrust Racing Pontiac Dallara on the outside of the front row with a speed of 112.953 mph. The SunTrust machine was one of several with new bodywork. “Any time you switch to a new car it is a challenge,” Valiante said. “And the team has done a phenomenal job with it.”

Max Angelelli will co-drive with Valiante.

Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett will start third in the TELMEX Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley with Mark Wilkins and Brian Frisselle will start fourth in the AIM Motorsport Ford Riley.

Row three qualifiers were Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney in the GAINSCO Pontiac Riley along with Guy Cosmo and Marc-Antoine Camirand in the Spirit of Daytona Porsche Coyote.

In total, 19 Daytona Prototypes took qualification runs.

The GT class’s fastest qualifier was Kelly Collins, who co-drives the Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R with Paul Edwards. Collins’s qualification speed was 103.867 mph, which approached the track record. “I had an uneventful lap,” Collins said.

Second fastest GT qualifier was the Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R of Andrew Davis and England’s Robin Liddell. Davis’s speed was 103.706 mph.

Twenty-six GT cars took qualification runs.

The 2 hour and 45-minute endurance race takes the green flag at 3 p.m. Saturday and SPEED will provide same-day coverage at 6 p.m. EDT Saturday evening.

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