The rain that dogged yesterday's practice sessions continued in the hills of Sonoma, Calif., at Infineon Raceway, as Saturday's top five qualifiers kept everyone on their toes, vying for a position for race five of the Ferrari Challenge Series season.
The qualifying battle went head to head at an average of 63 mph, as the F430 drivers dodged several cars spinning on the track due to standing water. In fact, the session ended fifteen minutes early when Ferrari of Ontario's John Farano drove the No. 59 car into a wall, causing a black flag.
Scott Tucker finished the qualifying session with a mere .653 seconds between his No. 55 Boardwalk Ferrari Supercar Life F430 and pole winner Mark McKenzie (02:19.438) in the No. 27 car. Turning in a fastest lap time of 02:20.091 Tucker will start in race five in second position the outside of row one. His position is ideal for this afternoon's race, as the field will likely go two wide going into turn two. This means Tucker will have the inside line to pass McKenzie, giving him the opportunity to take full control of the field for the remainder of the race.
"The rain has slowed everyone down this session," Tucker said. "At this point, drivers have their focus on staying on the track, getting as much grip as they can. The times are still so close, and the drivers are of such quality that it feels great to still be sitting at the front. The credit's got to go to the team. They've had a busy three weeks of racing, working to get the cars prepared and ready to go each week, I can't thank them enough."
Just last weekend the Supercar Life Racing Daytona Prototype team finished in the Top Five of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season's Bosch Engineering 250. It was an intense and unpredictable race, but the team emerged with the hard charger award for advancing the most positions-12-than any other car in the race.
"We're in a good position for this afternoon's race," Team Manager David Stone said. "The track's overall conditions are extremely slick and everyone has switched to rain tires. Even with the weather conditions, I believe the No. 55 will stay ahead of the field and finish strong in today's race."
Tucker goes into race five of the season undefeated with McKenzie in second nearly 200 points behind.
Respectable qualifying runs from Richard Fant (02:20.510), Francesco Piovanetti (02:20.775) and Zak Brown (02:21.262) rounded out the Top Five for the session.
Twelve drivers will participate in this afternoon's 45-minute race scheduled to begin at 2:10 p.m. PST.
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