SpeedSource MazdaSpeed RX-8 on GT Pole at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

SpeedSource MazdaSpeed RX-8 on GT Pole at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 18, 2007) -- Outside of perhaps the Rolex 24 At Daytona, no Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve event is more important to the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 team than last Saturday's U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

That being the case, Nick Ham dug deep to put the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Mazda RX-8 on the GT pole position with a last-lap flyer at 1:29.052 (90.473 mph) to put himself and co-driver Sylvain Tremblay in the catbird seat for Round 5 of the 13-race 2007 Rolex Series GT calendar. Ham and Tremblay currently share the GT points lead and would love nothing more than to pick up their third victory in five tries this season.

"It took until the last lap to get it," Ham said. "It was really important for us and for Mazda. This is their home track. With the whole program this year, it was just something we really wanted to do. It wasn't easy. I had to work at it. I kept catching traffic or I made a mistake on my other good lap. That last lap was a really good lap. I didn't leave anything on the table, and luckily we got it in just in time."

Ham's late surge to the pole relegated 19-year-old Eric Lux to second on the grid in the No. 74 Rembrandt Charms/Tafel Racing Porsche GT3. Lux posted a best lap at 1:29.185 (90.338 mph) in the car he shares this weekend with Ian James, who also competed in Sunday's Daytona Prototype event and the KONI Challenge Series Monterey 200 for the Grand Sport class. Lux is still looking for his first career Rolex Series class victory.

Race Report

Championship points co-leaders Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham were also frontrunners for nearly two-thirds of the Sunday race, with Ham leading early and Tremblay working his way to the front, trying to run down the Stanton Porsche. After a long battle with the Porsche of Werner, the two unfortunately touched on Lap 53 in Turn 2. Tremblay never challenged for the spot again and fell to seventh at the checkered flag.

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