All Five Class Standards Fall On Inner Harbour Street Circuit

Klaus Graf (pictured) captured the pole for Saturday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT, leading a qualifying session that saw track records for all five classes broken on the 2.02-mile Inner Harbour Street Circuit.

Graf ran a lap of 1 minute, 25.290 seconds (86.106 mph) in the No. 6 Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03c co-driven by Lucas Luhr. It was his second pole of the 2013 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón season and fourth for the team this year.

Graf will be joined on the front row by the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/60 of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith. Dyson qualified with a lap of 84.657 mph.

“The Muscle Milk car was really performing well in qualifying, and it got quicker and quicker every lap,” Graf said. “The track changed a lot today. The IndyCars ran before our qualifying so there was a lot of grip, and based on the data we had and the changes we made, we did it perfectly.”

In GT class qualifying, Bill Auberlen captured his first pole of the season in the No. 55 Team RLL Crowne Plaza BMW Z4 GTE with a lap of 1:29.560 (82.001 mph). Teammate Joey Hand originally qualified second in the No. 56 BMW, but his times were disallowed when a ride-height issue was revealed in post-qualifying technical inspection. As a result, Corvette Racing’s No. 4 Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 qualified by Tommy Milner moves to the GT front row.

Ryan Briscoe won his fourth pole of the season in P2 qualifying and the sixth for Level 5 Motorsports in the No. 551 Siemens/Alpina Watches/Ohiya Casino Resort HPD ARX-03b, 1:27.170 (84.249 mph). Briscoe is back in the cockpit after recovering from an injury suffered in IZOD IndyCar Series competition. The Aussie ran his fast lap late in the 15-minute session to take the pole from Extreme Speed Motorsports driver Johannes van Overbeek’s No. 02 Tequila Patrón HPD ARX-03b.

Dane Cameron led Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire (PC) qualifying. Driving the No. 52 PR1 Motorsports Molecule ORECA FLM09 for the first time this season, he won the pole with a lap of 1:28.235 (83.232 mph).

In GTC, Jeroen Bleekemolen captured his fourth pole of the season and 15th of his career with a lap of 1:34.322 (77.861 mph) in the No. 22 Alex Job Racing WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Live streaming of Saturday's Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT will be available on ESPN3.com at 3:30 p.m. ET in the United States and internationally on ALMS.com. The race will be televised on ABC at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Visit ALMS.com for current and future event information including tickets and area accommodations. Follow the ALMS on Twitter (#ALMS, #GPoB), Facebook and the official YouTube channel.

BALTIMORE - Starting lineup for Saturday's American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Baltimore at the 2.02-mile Inner Harbor Street Course. Lineup includes starting position, car number and class (in parentheses), drivers, car, time in seconds and speed in miles per hour.

1.  (6-P1) Lucas Luhr/Klaus Graf, HPD ARX-03c, 1:25.290, 86.106 mph
2.  (16-P1) Chris Dyson/Guy Smith, Lola B12/60 Mazda, 1:26.750, 84.657
3.  (551-P2) Scott Tucker/Ryan Briscoe, HPD ARX-03b, 1:27.170, 84.249
4.  (02-P2) Ed Brown/Johannes van Overbeek, HPD ARX-03b, 1:27.669, 83.770
5.  (01-P2) Scott Sharp/Anthony Lazzaro, HPD ARX-03b, 1:27.818, 83.628
6.  (52-PC) Mike Guasch/Dane Cameron, ORECA FLM09, 1:28.235, 83.232
7.  (552-P2) Scott Tucker/Guy Cosmo/Marino Franchitti, HPD ARX-03b, 1:28.335, 83.138
8.  (8-PC) Chris Cumming/Kyle Marcelli, ORECA FLM09, 1:28.518, 82.96
9.  (05-PC) Jonathan Bennett/Colin Braun, ORECA FLM09, 1:28.716, 82.781
10.  (9-PC) Alex Popow/Bruno Junqueira, ORECA FLM09, 1:29.081, 82.442
11.  (55-GT) Bill Auberlen/Maxime Martin, BMW Z4 GTE, 1:29.560, 82.001
12.  (56-GT) Joey Hand/Dirk Mueller, BMW Z4 GTE, 1:29.795, 81.786
13.  (4-GT) Tommy Milner/Oliver Gavin, Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1, 1:30.007, 81.594
14.  (06-GT) Tom Kimber-Smith/Patrick Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:30.104, 81.506
15.  (3-GT) Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia, Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1, 1:30.132, 81.480
16.  (17-GT) Bryan Sellers/Wolf Henzler, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:30.238, 81.38
17.  (91-GT) Dominik Farnbacher/Marc Goossens, SRT Viper GTS-R Viper V-10, 1:30.599, 81.060
18.  (62-GT) Matteo Malucelli/Olivier Beretta, Ferrari F458 Italia, 1:30.900, 80.792
19.  (48-GT) Bryce Miller/Marco Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:31.352, 80.392
20.  (93-GT) Jonathan Bomarito/Kuno Wittmer, SRT Viper GTS-R Viper V-10, 1:31.358, 80.387
21.  (23-GT) Townsend Bell/Bill Sweedler, Ferrari F458 Italia, 1:31.494, 80.26 22.  (18-PC) Tristan Nunez/Charlie Shears, ORECA FLM09, 1:32.234, 79.624
23.  (22-GTC) Cooper MacNeil/Jeroen Bleekemolen, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:34.322, 77.861
24.  (45-GTC) Nelson Canache Jr./Spencer Pumpelly, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:34.515, 77.702
25.  (30-GTC) Henrique Cisneros/Sean Edwards, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:34.602, 77.630
26.  (66-GTC) Ben Keating/Damien Faulkner, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:34.781, 77.484
27.  (7-PC) Tomy Drissi/Rusty Mitchell, ORECA FLM09, 1:34.905, 77.383
28.  (68-GTC) Al Carter/Kevin Estre, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:34.949, 77.347
29.  (11-GTC) Mike Hedlund/Jan Heylen, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:35.371, 77.005
30.  (44-GTC) Seth Neiman/Dion von Moltke, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:35.496, 76.904
31.  (27-GTC) Patrick Dempsey/Andy Lally, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:35.501, 76.900
32.  (67-GTC) Marc Bunting/Norbert Siedler, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, no time, no speed

Photo by Dan R. Boyd/ALMS