STRONG QUALIFYING RUN FOR LEVEL 5 AT LAGUNA

Level 5 Motorsports will start Saturday’s ModSpace American Le Mans Monterey presented by Patrón from prime position following an encouraging debut weekend so far with its new Honda Performance Development ARX-01g.

Team owner Scott Tucker and co-drivers Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz have been quickly up to speed in the No. 055 Microsoft Office 2010-sponsored LMP2 car, which only turned its first laps on Wednesday. Solidly in the top-five overall in the opening practice sessions, there were high hopes for continued improvement heading into qualifying at the famed Laguna Seca Raceway.

The HPD ARX-01g at Wirth Research

Sure enough, endurance veteran Bouchut didn’t fail to disappoint, as the fast Frenchman recorded a best time of 1:16.688, good enough for fifth overall. It was by far the quickest lap of the weekend for the David Stone-led team and over two seconds clear of the pole-sitting LMP Challenge entry.

“I was expecting a certain lap time and we went even quicker, so I’m happy,” Bouchut said. “We’re heading in the right direction with the setup we’re working on. So on that side, it’s really nice because we have a good car for the race. Starting with a brand-new car, it’s a real challenge again for Level 5. But they’re used to such challenges and have done a great job so far. I’m very confident.”

Level 5 Motorsports enjoys the podium
at Laguna Seca in 2010.

After battling a few teething issues during the car’s initial shakedown at Infineon Raceway on Wednesday, the Wirth Research-built cost-capped prototype, powered by Honda’s successful 2.8-liter twin-turbo V6, has run like clockwork through the sessions at Laguna Seca.

With three-time national driving champion Tucker, who’s pulling triple-duty this weekend, having scored pole position for Saturday’s IMSA Prototypes Lites race, there’s no doubt plenty of optimism flowing through the team ahead of tomorrow’s highly anticipated race debut.

“Our qualifying run today certainly bodes well for the performance capability of the car, especially considering we’re only just getting started,” said team manager David Stone. “We’ve had maybe only three hours of total run time so far and only a few little gremlins. It’s off to a good start. The Level 5 guys have done a great job putting it together and it seems to coming out of the box pretty well.

“The goal will be to use tomorrow’s run as a tune-up race for the team and for the drivers and see what we can learn. But it will be the usual message of staying out of trouble and take care of the car. We still don’t have a lot of spares or a lot of time before Petit Le Mans, so that will be the mission.”

The ModSpace American Le Mans Monterey presented by Patrón is set for 1:30 p.m. PT (4:30 p.m. ET) on Saturday, Sept. 17. The race will air on ESPN2 from 1 to 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 18. Live coverage will be available in the U.S. on ESPN3.com or outside the U.S. on americanlemans.com. Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and MotorsTV in Europe also will air live coverage.