Maxwell stars on home
soil as #10 Panoz strikes
trouble at Mosport

Home-town hero Scott Maxwell used his local knowledge to good effect to
push the #11 Panoz to third in LMP900 qualifying for round five of the
American Le Mans Series at Mosport today.

While the car of Maxwell and Gunnar Jeannette recorded a strong time of 1
minute, 10.453 second to be third in class and sixth overall, the sister
car of Olivier Beretta and David Saelens struck more than its fair share
of problems.

A failed crank sensor side-lined the car just prior to the opening
practice and the JML squad elected to make an engine change prior to
qualifying.

With the engine change already scheduled for after Sunday's race, the
team decided to bring forward the swap to minimize any possible problems
for tomorrow's event.

However, the #10 car subsequently did not turn a lap in either practice
session, forcing Beretta to make his qualifying attack without having
been on the track today.

The two-time ALMS GTS champion recorded a fastest time of 1 minute,
10.782 seconds, just behind the #11 car. However, Beretta ran off the
circuit with only minutes of the session remaining, finishing in the tire
barrier in turn one.

Fortunately, damage to the car was only minor and the car will line up
4th in the LMP900 class tomorrow and 7th overall.

The two LMP675 prototypes of Dyson Racing locked down the front row for
tomorrow with James Weaver outpacing Andy Wallace.

The Toronto Grand Prix of Mosport is a 2 hour, 45 minute event starting
at 1.30pm (Eastern). The race will be broadcast on NBC starting at 2pm
(Eastern).

OLIVIER BERETTA

"It was a tough day for us because we had a problem with a sensor on the
engine and decided to move forward the engine change we had planned to do
after this race.

"That cost us a lot of track time and the car was OK in qualifying, but I
ran off the track right at the end in turn one and damaged the bodywork
and the splitter a little.

"It was certainly a difficult day, but hopefully tomorrow will be better.

"We will double stint the Michelin tires off the start and I am sure we
can still pull out a good result tomorrow despite the dramas today."

GUNNAR JEANNETTE

"Today went exceptionally well for the #11 car - I am very pleased. We
spent most of the first session trying to dial out a bit of under steer
and tried quite a few different combinations and suspension settings.

"The track temperature was a bit cooler this morning and the Michelin
tires started to work exceptionally well once the track warmed up a
little in the afternoon.

"The car got better and better and Scott set some awesome times in
qualifying. Being third in the LMP900 class is excellent for us and
hopefully we can maintain that tomorrow and clinch a spot on the podium."

DAVID SAELENS

"The guys on the crew did a fantastic job to get the engine changed
before qualifying - they really worked exceptionally hard.

"Going straight to qualifying after not running today was tough on us
because the track has changed a bit since yesterday.

"We are still not in a bad position for tomorrow's race and we will see
how everything progresses.

"I am looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow because I
didn't get a chance to drive today. At least this has given my bad ribs
an extra day to improve before the race."

SCOTT MAXWELL

"The day went reasonably well and we made progress every time we went out
on the track.

"We managed to get rid of quite a lot of under steer and I really can't
wait for the race tomorrow in front of my home crowd.

"The car is extremely good in the high speed corners which there are a
lot of around Mosport, but we are struggling a little bit with under
steer in the tighter corners at the far end of the circuit.

"Hopefully we can make some more progress in the warm-up, but overall I
think we have a very good race package."

-pm-


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