GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing will start today’s inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix from the pole, following a flying lap by Jon Foagarty in qualifying this morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The two-time GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series champion turned a best time of 1:23.035 in his Corvette DP, edging out the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Corvette of Max Angelelli by 0.015 seconds for the top spot.
It marked Fogarty’s third pole of the season as he and co-driver Alex Gurney search for their breakthrough first win of 2012 later today (4 p.m. ET, Live! SPEED).
“It’s a compact morning and a tough schedule today so hats off to the crew. It’s definitely a lot of work,” Fogarty said. “There are some little differences between when we last tested here and today. We adjusted accordingly to be alright for qualifying. I’m happy to be starting up front but it’s a long race.”
While having visited victory lane twice this season, the SunTrust duo of Angelelli and Ricky Taylor haven’t finished a race since its New Jersey win five races ago.
Slipping to ninth in the Daytona Prototype championship standings, the rapid Italian has clear orders on the team’s objective for today’s three-hour enduro.
“Every race is important for us, especially after the last sequence of DNFs,” Angelelli said. “We definitely need to see the checkered, flag. No matter which position we end, we need to finish the race.”
The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette of Terry Borcheller qualified third with a 1:23.167 lap time, ahead of the similarly prepared Spirit of Daytona entry of Antonio Garcia, who made it a Corvette 1-2-3-4 sweep.
Quickest of the non-GM-badged machines was the No. 2 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford of Alex Popow with a 1:23.251. Popow will team with open-wheel ace Sebastien Bourdais.
Both of the Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-BMWs suffered disappointing qualifying runs, slotting in sixth and eighth, respectively.
Jonathan Bomarito scored the GT class pole in his No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8, thanks to a 1:30.359 by the American star.
Bomarito edged out the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette of Boris Said by 0.089 seconds, with Robin Liddell’s No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R a mere 0.002 seconds behind in third.
All 34 cars took time.
The inagural Brickyard Grand Prix takes the green flag at 4 p.m. ET. Catch it Live! on SPEED.