Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's domination of the American Le Mans Series continued at Road America as a gearbox problem for the rival No. 16 Dyson Lola-Mazda left Klaus Graf to take an uncontested pole in Muscle Milk's HPD.
With Chris Dyson and Guy Smith sitting out the session and destined to start at the back, Graf claimed pole by three seconds over Dyson's No. 20 car, driven by Eric Lux.
The other four classes were significantly more competitive. Just 0.6sec covered the top seven GT cars around the four-mile track, although it was an all-Flying Lizard Porsche battle for pole. Marco Holzer (ABOVE) sprang a surprise as he edged out teammate Jorg Bergmeister by just 0.013sec to put the team's less-fancied No. 44 car on top and claim his first ALMS pole. Points leaders Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will start next up in third.
“It's an unbelievable day for me,” said an almost bewildered Holzer. “The car was fantastic. This Porsche is working very well for us. The new aero (a new spoiler and air ducts that appeared at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) are making the car go that much faster in the corners.”
Conquest's Martin Plowman overcame Level 5's Christophe Bouchut for LMP2 pole. In the one-make classes, a big lap from Kyle Marcelli took Merchant Services clear of the LMPC pack, and Jeroen Bleekemolen held off Green Hornet driver Damien Faulkner to take GTC pole for Alex Job Racing.
ESPN2's delayed telecast of Saturday's race begins at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 19. Full, live coverage starts at 3:15 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN3.