Brumos Dominates at Daytona and Captures Pole Position
Friday, January 23, 2009

Brumos Racing hit the ground running as Speed Weeks 2009 officially got underway at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. The first day on track in preparation for Saturday’s Rolex 24 included two practice sessions followed by qualifying.  The hours of testing and preparation paid dividends early,as the #58 car captured the best-of-session title in the morning practice, with Darren Law posting a time of 1:41.107.  Not to be outdone, the #59 car captured the spotlight in the afternoon session, as Joao Barbosa took the P1 position with a fastest time of 1:40.968. 

Both cars were turning in strong performances and drew favorable reviews from the drivers, so expectations were high going into qualifying.  When the checkered flag dropped, those expectations had been met. In an extremely close contest, David Donohue bested the Penske Porsche driven by Timo Berhard by a mere .001 seconds to capture the pole position for Brumos #58 car with a time of 1:40.540, setting a new DP track record. David’s father, the late Mark Donohue, also won a Daytona 24 Hours pole position in 1971.This year is also meaningful to David as the 40th anniversary of the elder Donohue’s 24 Hours of Daytona victory.

David was quick to credit the Brumos team, saying, “The car’s success in the field was very representative of all the work the guys have put into it.  We ran a lot of miles at Daytona testing so it is not a surprise that the car has good balance, but so do the cars of many other teams.  It’s nice to know that we have done our job, even just a thousandth of a second better.  It’s special to me, as I had shoulder surgery and missed the off season testing. Darren has really carried the weight of development, so he deserves a lot of credit as well.”

While enjoying the personal as well as the team victory, Donohue is already looking ahead to the Saturday race.  “This pole position means a lot for us, given the level of the competition here.  There are a lot of really credible teams with a lot of talent.  It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see half a dozen cars on the lead lap in the closing hours of this race.  It’s not so much who manages their problems as who actually avoids them altogether. We had the fastest lap today, but I’d certainly rather be up here in the center this time on Sunday.  We intend to keep Brumos at the top of the charts all year long.  We won the first session and our #59 car won the second session, so we are bringing Brumos right back to the top in sports car racing where it belongs.”

The Brumos cars were back in action on Friday, again scoring top position in the day’s two additional practice sessions. The #59 car took first place in the morning session with a lap time of 1:40.961, while #58 scored a 1:42.279 for the afternoon practice, earning P1 in that session.  Wrapping up the pre-race action, a Brumos car took first in every session they entered, as well as capturing the pole position. All that remains is to maintain that success for the final event - the race.  The Rolex 24 will get undreway Saturday, January 24th at 3:30.

Posted on 01/23 at 11:12 AM