RICHARD WESTBROOK BLISTERS THE FIELD IN QUALIFYING FOR THE PETIT LE MANS IN THE VISITFLORIDA.COM CORVETTE DP

In a wet and treacherous qualifying session at Road
Atlanta, Mother Nature proved to be no match for England’s Richard Westbrook who powered the No. 90VISITFLORIDA.COMChevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype to the pole for Saturday’s 10-hour Petit Le Mans. Westbrook’s lap of 1:27.860 was over a second faster than the next closest competitor around the 2.54-mile circuit.

“It was a good lap, I guess it was the last one as it kept getting quicker and quicker,” said Westbrook. “We led the session the whole way, Visit Florida Racing gave me a great car. We didn’t know if the rain was going to get heavier or lighter, so we kept pushing. It’s exciting for Visit Florida and Chevrolet, they’re both great partners.”

For team owner Troy Flis, the lap puts his team in the drivers seat for what could be an extremely treacherous 10-hour race based on the weather forecast.

“Good day for us,” said Flis.  “We just kept doing what we have been doing all year. Richard drove a great lap there in the rain; he’s always great in this type of weather so if we gave him a good car, we knew he could get the job done.

“We made a change right before qualifying. I haven’t heard if he liked it or not. We knew we had a pretty good car because he wanted to qualify it.  It’s good to have guys on this team that keep pushing for one another.  We are just going to keep doing what we are doing and try to win this championship.”

While Visit Florida Racing has scored two victories this season, most recently in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, the team’s focus on podium finishes has positioned them with a six-point lead in the championship entering the final event. The Daytona Beach-based team has finished on the podium six times in the 2015 season, a seventh podium finish on Saturday night will clinch the title for Visit Florida Racing.

The 17th annual Petit Le Mans will get underway at 11:10 a.m. EDT. The race will be available in its entirety on IMSA.com, the IMSA mobile app and on radiolemans.com. FOX Sports 2 will televise the race from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m, from 2:30-7:00 p.m. and the final 40 minutes of the race beginning at 8:30 p.m.