CALLAWAY
Photo Coutersy:ACO
CALLAWAY RACER UPSTAGES PORSCHES IN INITIAL GT CLASS QUALIFYING AT LE MANS
--Former Porsche ALMS champion Cort Wagner, from Los Angeles has surprised the field of Porsche 911 GT3 RS by placing the factory Callaway C12-R on the provisional pole for Saturday's 69th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France--
LE MANS, France -- Porsche teams were given a rude wake-up call Wednesday after the first two qualifying sessions for the 69th edition of the Le Mans 24 hours when former Porsche driver, Cort Wagner, from Los Angeles placed the Callaway C12-R Corvette-powered racer on provisional LM-GT pole position.
Wagner, replacing the injured American Shane Lewis, who had a leg operation last month but developed an infection and was forced to miss Le Mans, set a time of four minutes 13.063s, eight tenths faster than the Larbre Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RS of Patrice Goueslard, Sebastian Dumez and Jean-Luc Chereau.
Current American Le Mans Series GT leaders - the two McKenna Porsche 911 GT3 RS entries from Alex Job Racing - did not enter this year's event, opting to spend the break in the ALMS schedule getting ready for the grueling second half of the season, which starts July 22 at Sears Point in California.
There were very few problems for the Porsche teams during the opening day of this year's Le Mans. The Seikel Porsche of Gabrio Rosa, Fabio Babini and Luca Drudi - the 2000 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winning drivers - was third fastest in class after breaking a new driveshaft in the opening minutes of the first qualifying session.
Last year's GT winners, Team Taisan Advan, were fourth fastest with Hideo Fukuyama, Atsushi Yogo and Kazuyuki Nishizawa was fifth in their Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
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