Pumpelly Stays Perfect with Pole Run at VIR for Six-Hour KONI GS Finale

ALTON, Va. (October 6, 2007) -- Spencer Pumpelly kept his perfect weekend at VIR intact Saturday morning and won the pole for Sunday's season-ending Six-Hour Grand-Am KONI Challenge GS race in the No. 49 Marcus Motorsports MAH 720 Property Management/Auriemma Consulting Group Porsche 997.

Pumpelly ripped off a lap of 2:04.453 (94.590 mph) -- his fastest of the weekend so far after also setting the pace in Friday's pair of practice sessions - and will share the front row

with the championship leading No. 09 Automatic Racing/FreshFrom Florida BMW M3 of Jeff Segal who clocked in second quickest with a lap of 2:04.784 (94.339 mph). Pumpelly, who will co-drive in tomorrow's Six-Hour Grand-Am KONI GS race with Darren Law and Michael Auriemma, topped a tight GS field that saw the top 23 cars qualify within two seconds of each other.

"The guys with Marcus Motorsports did an excellent job getting the car set up," Pumpelly said. "We struggled a little bit in the beginning but I'm really happy with the car now. I'm looking forward to the race with Michael Auriemma and Darren Law. Two good co-drivers combined with this team make a pretty formidable force."

Segal, who can lock up the Grand-Am KONI GS Championship with co-driver Jep Thornton with a 20th place finish or better in tomorrow's race, was the fastest BMW in the field and split a pair of Porsches in the top three. The No. 42 TRG Porsche 997 of Bryan Sellers was third fastest at 2:04.789 (94.335 mph) and he will co-drive with Dan DiLeo and Ross Smith.

Joe Foster, who is second to the Fresh From Florida squad's 279 points lead in the championship with 254 tallies, saw his teammate Scott Maxwell qualify their No. 55 Hyper Sport/SuperCuts Mustang ninth fastest with a lap of 2:05.096 (94.104 mph). Charles Espenlaub is also in the No. 55 driver lineup.

Defending Six-Hour Grand-Am KONI Challenge race winners Tim Traver and Mikel Miller were only 20th fastest with a lap of 2:06.064 (93.381 mph).

Patrick Dempsey arrived at VIR for the first time this weekend Saturday morning after an overnight flight and was pitside when his teammate Rick Skelton qualified the No. 54 Hyper Sport/SuperCuts Mustang 24th on the grid. Skelton and Dempsey will co-drive with Joe Middlebrooks with Foster also listed as a possible fourth driver.

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