Hurley Haywood may no longer be driving the iconic No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley, but the American legend still knows the key to getting around Homestead-Miami Speedway. Darren Law, who now shares that car with David Donohue, took Haywood's advice Friday and won the pole for Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami.
Haywood won last October's Grand Prix as a late substitute in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley, co-driving with Joao Barbosa. One of America's most successful endurance racers, Haywood retired from active competition following the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona – a race he won a record five times. He remains active in the sport as an official with Brumos Racing.
"Prior to going out, Hurley told me to get in the car and visualize the track," said Law, who won his only prior pole position at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2005. "I kind of blew it off, but I did get in the car early and tried to visualize it. Then we went out and won the pole, and Hurley's taking all the credit for it."
Law led a nine-driver assault on Jon Fogarty's five-month-old Homestead-Miami Speedway Daytona Prototype track record in preparation for the two-hour, 45-minute race that takes the green flag at 5 p.m. ET.
Fogarty had a personal streak of winning the pole in his last five qualifying attempts, while he ended 2009 by winning the pole in six of the last seven races.
He briefly took the top position from Law, but the Porsche driver ran another quick lap to regain the pole. Fogarty held on for second in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Chevrolet, 1:11.839 (114.311mph) co-driven by Alex Gurney.
"We would like to be on the pole, but it's a good starting position," said Fogarty, who shared the 2007 and 2009 Daytona Prototype championships with Gurney. "I'm a little disappointed that we didn't maximize qualifying, but we were also trying to conserve our tires and not put a lot of laps on them. We only ran one quick lap. The Brumos guys are right there and super fast. "
Taking third Brian Frisselle in the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley, 1:12.079 (114.874mph) co-driven by Michael Valiante; Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley he shares with Scott Pruett, 1:12.166 (114.735mph); and Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara co-driven by Max Angelelli, 1:12.282 (114.551mph).
Also eclipsing the former track record were Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No. 95 Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley co-driven by Scott Tucker; Mark Wilkins in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Pacific Mobile Ford Riley co-driven by Burt Frisselle; Buddy Rice in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Porsche Coyote shared by Antonio Garcia; and Rolex 24 At Daytona winner Terry Borcheller in the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley.
Borcheller and co-driver Joao Barbosa won the season-opening Rolex 24 for Action Express. Ryan Dalziel also drove in that winning effort. He will drive the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW Riley for the remainder of the season, with Mike Forest qualifying 10th Friday in that car's debut.