Friday’s Fifth-Place Qualifying Effort Continues String of Solid Performances for No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Team
LAKEVILLE, Connecticut (July 22, 2016) – Paul Miller Racing and Madison Snow will start tomorrow’s Northeast Grand Prix from the inside of row three after a solid fifth-place qualifying effort in the No. 48 Castrol EDGE Lamborghini Huracán GT3 at Lime Rock Park on Friday.
The seventh round of the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s 11-race GT Daytona (GTD) class season, the Northeast Grand Prix can be seen live on FOX tomorrow, Saturday, July 23, at 3 p.m. EDT.
The No. 48 team comes to Lime Rock Park two weeks after a season-best third place race finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and the team, Snow and his co-driver Bryan Sellers picked up right where they left off on Friday.
After running in the top five in both Friday practice sessions, Snow and the No. 48 team kept the Lamborghini in the same exact spot after a competitive 15-minute qualifying session.
Ranking as high as second halfway through qualifying, Snow ultimately locked down fifth on the grid with his top lap time of 53.330 on the 1.5-mile Lime Rock circuit.
“It was a good qualifying,” Snow said. “We’ve definitely improved all along this season, and especially the last couple of races. I don’t want to say it took us a long time to get used to the car, but we’re still finding all the new things in the Lamborghini. It seems we are finally up to speed now and we have to see where that’s going to take us over the next couple of races.”
Snow will start tomorrow’s race and hand off to Sellers, who will bring the No. 48 home to the finish.
“We’ve been strong throughout the day but we aren’t quite happy with the car,” Sellers said. “We need to firm it up a little bit and I think that we’re on a good path for the race tomorrow.”
Saturday’s fifth-place starting berth is the third best for Paul Miller Racing this season, all in the span of the last four races.
Sellers was the fastest qualifier last month in Detroit, the first pole for the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 in IMSA GTD competition, and Snow started third two races ago in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
“Ultimately, I think the qualifying falls a lot on Madison’s shoulders in terms of having a good plan, executing it well and getting the lap when it counts,” Sellers said. “He definitely had a good qualifying run, was able to get a good lap together, a clean lap in what I would say is pretty tough conditions.
“It’s hard in these short qualifying sessions with this many cars to get a clean lap. He was able to do a string of laps and set himself up, cool the tires down, do another string of laps and get his quick one in.”
Drivers and teams are grappling with typically high summer temperatures at Lime Rock Park this weekend where today’s high of 90 degrees is expected to be matched again on Saturday.
“It’s hot, everyone has the same problem, the track grip is extremely low and the temperatures inside the cockpits are high,” Sellers said. “Everyone is kind of fighting the same thing, just trying to stay hydrated and make sure that we’re all prepared for the race tomorrow.
“That’s one of the good things we have on our side. We have such a strong driver combination that hopefully we can find a way to split the drive time a little bit and have fresher drivers for longer.”
One of the coolest places Snow found at Lime Rock on Friday is inside the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3.
“It’s been a brutal race so far but it’s actually been better to be in the car than out of the car with the cool suit, helmet blower and drink bottle we have,” Snow said. “Out of the car in the timing stand all you do is think about how hot you are. When you’re in the car, your mind is so caught up on racing, but I know when we do the longer stints tomorrow, that’s when the heat is going to start hitting us.”
Race-day Saturday starts with a 20-minute warm-up at 9:05 a.m. EDT. The Northeast Grand Prix main event goes green at 3:05 p.m. EDT.
Noteworthy
– Snow is making his first IMSA GTD race start at Lime Rock tomorrow. “I have only raced at Lime Rock once or twice in IMSA GT3 Cup so I don’t have a lot of experience at this track,” Snow said. “I do remember one time though when I was in the Gold class and it was raining very heavily in practice or qualifying. I ended up seeing myself on the leader board, I think it was only the top-five spots if I remember, so I was very happy with myself that I was up there overall!”
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