Edwards Grabs GT Pole in Monterey

Photo: John Dagys

Stevenson Motorsports will start Sunday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Festival from the GT class pole, following a quick lap by John Edwards in qualifying today at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Edwards reeled off a best time of 1:27.529 in his No. 57 Camaro GT.R to claim his third GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series pole of the season and the fourth for the Mike Johnson-led squad.

He edged out the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette of Boris Said by 0.099 seconds.

” I think we have a really good car, one of the best cars we’ve had all year on new tires,” Edwards said. “But I think this weekend in GT everyone seems to be struggling with a big difference in time at the end of the stint versus the beginning.

“We’ve never seen track temperatures this high here in the past couple of years, so it’s really hard on the tires.  I think the key is going to be trying to keep the car underneath us and keep it from going loose in the race as the tires get older.”

Edwards and co-driver Robin Liddell will be searching for their fifth class victory of the season. The duo currently trail championship leader Alessandro Balzan by three points heading into Sunday’s penultimate round of the season.

Balzan’s co-driver, Leh Keen, who is coming off victory at Kansas, qualified third in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia Grand-Am.

The top-five in class was completed by the No. 61 AIM Motorsport Ferrari of Alex Tagliani and the Patrick Lindsey-driven No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche.

Mazda swept the front row in the GX class, which features four entries this weekend.

Tristan Nunez, fresh off his maiden victory in American Le Mans Series competition, claimed class pole in the No. 00 Visit Florida Racing Mazda6.

Nunez’s 1:33.533 lap time was more than a half second quicker than the No. 70 SpeedSource entry of Tom Long, who qualified second.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John