Muscle Milk Team CytoSport scored its best overall starting position with the Porsche RS Spyder during qualifying for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón race at Laguna Seca.
Klaus Graf was once again given the task of qualifying the #6 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder and as he has done throughout all of his qualifying sessions, the German put in another strong run.
With his first fast lap, Graf immediately jumped to second before falling to third a few minutes later. However, the Muscle Milk driver didn’t stay in that position for very long. On his fifth lap out, he registered his quickest time of the weekend with a lap of one minute 13.855 seconds, which placed him provisionally in second.
Knowing that it would be hard for them to beat their own time, Muscle Milk Team CytoSport put an early end to their session, satisfied with their lap time.
By the time the checkered flag flew on the 25-minute session, Graf and his teammates, Sascha Maassen and Memo Gidley, had fallen to third, where they will start Saturday’s event.
The six-hour race will go green at 2:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 22 and will be streamed live online at americanlemans.com/live. The event will also be broadcast tape delayed on CBS Sports at 1:30 p.m. ET May 29, 2010. Fans can also follow live radio coverage on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242.
What they had to say:
Klaus Graf, Driver #6 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder
“My qualifying lap was a good, nice, tidy lap. I didn’t push too, too hard because it’s very easy here on this track to lose grip completely. If you come a little bit offline you just go straight. I had that once and I had to adjust a little bit. The Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder is quite good, quite nice. The guys did a great job as usual.
“We made a lot of improvement in that last session so I’m quite happy about that. Starting third is good, but the starting position for a six-hour race doesn’t matter that much.
“At the start of the race it will be important to stay smart. We will hit traffic after two laps and then we’ll be in traffic from that point on for six-hours so that is going to be tough. Then once the sun goes down it’s going to be a whole different game. The track conditions will change dramatically. The tire guys will have the toughest job tomorrow, but I’m confident that our Michelin engineer, Donnie, will do a good job.”
Memo Gidley, Driver #6 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder
On driving the Porsche RS Spyder: “I’ve been staring at that car in the Muscle Milk shop and I’ve been sneaking a sit in it every once in a while when nobody is around. It just feels so great to be out there. The car is so nimble, so light, it reacts so quickly, even in cooler conditions.
“It rolls into the corner with so much speed that your mind has to adjust to the entry speed a little bit. It took a couple of laps to kind of get my mind ahead of what was going on with the car. At first, it’s always a little bit like dancing in the unknown, walking on fire a little bit. But after a few laps I got into a rhythm and everything feels real good. The car is not intimidating or overwhelming or anything like that, it’s just learning how fast it can go.”