Connery on Pole Despite Crash

Connery will keep his fast lap; due to not bringing out a session stoppage, although the car is highly questionable for the 4:30pm race start.

The F2000 rookie Connery, who is actively looking for sponsorship to run the full season, has been in the top three on the time sheets consistently since Thursday's test day at VIR.

Robert La Rocca, driving a new RFR chassis for HP-Tech, will line up on the outside of row one.

“We’re a bit surprised as the conditions were nuts,” commented the rookie La Rocca, who has been in the top five all weekend. “There was a lot of traffic after the black flag and our time wasn’t all that good either.”

Tim Minor, the top Masters Class driver, qualified third ahead of Nathan Morcom, a rookie driver from Australia, who added that he was unable to get a clear lap in the limited time available during a less than stellar qualifying session.

Another rookie, Venezuelan Angel Benitez, rounded out the top five for 2010 Series Champions Alegra Motorsports, which makes four rookies and four aspiring drivers in the top five.

“The car was pretty good but the conditions were dangerous,” Benitez said. “There was rain in some parts and it was slippery.”

Tom Fatur qualified his GTP Motorsports Van Diemen sixth and added: “The track itself wasn’t bad but the water on your visor created a psychological sense of a rain race. It was slippery in slow corners but there was grip left in the high-speed areas.”

Brent Gilkes, Jonathan Scarallo, Brian Tomasi and Joe Colasacco followed in positions seven through ten.

Remy Audette, who was well under the track record during practice and has been the class of the field through two days in Virginia, could only manage a time good enough for 11th. The Canadian battled through the messy session, which included a spin on his outlap.

Another potential championship contender, Chris Livengood, will have to come from 26th on the grid. The American hopeful crashed during qualifying, ripping both wings off his #37 Van Diemen.

Giancarlo Potolicchio, driving alongside La Rocca at HP-Tech, will start last after bringing out the black flag, losing two grid positions, in addition to his two fastest laps for bringing out a black flag on Friday during practice.

Follow live action with up-to-the-minute coverage, reporting and photos on F2000Series.com all weekend, and on Twitter @F2000. Saturday follows with race one of the 2011 season at 4:30. Action gets started on Sunday at 12:45, with qualifying for the 4:30 green flag. All times are eastern.

Race 1 Grid:

Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 91 Kyle Connery 1:56.856 100.739 3 - - 2 10 Robert La Rocca 1:57.245 100.405 3 +0.389 +0.389 3 88 Tim Minor/M 1:57.477 100.207 3 +0.621 +0.232 4 2 Nathan Morcom 1:57.762 99.964 3 +0.906 +0.285 5 26 Angel Benitez 1:57.944 99.810 3 +1.088 +0.182 6 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:58.907 99.002 3 +2.051 +0.963 7 7 Brent Gilkes/M 1:59.528 98.487 3 +2.672 +0.621 8 4 Jonathan Scarallo 1:59.938 98.151 3 +3.082 +0.410 9 96 Brian Tomasi 2:00.338 97.824 3 +3.482 +0.400 10 3 Joe Colasacco 2:00.361 97.806 3 +3.505 +0.023 11 21 Remy Audette 2:00.384 97.787 2 +3.528 +0.023 12 8 Mark Defer/M 2:01.235 97.101 6 +4.379 +0.851 13 13 Steele Guiliana 2:02.000 96.492 4 +5.144 +0.765 14 23 Gustavo Rizzo 2:02.613 96.009 6 +5.757 +0.613 15 89 Rob Nicholas/M 2:02.932 95.760 2 +6.076 +0.319 16 29 Ardie Greenamyer/M 2:03.166 95.578 5 +6.310 +0.234 17 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 2:03.852 95.049 6 +6.996 +0.686 18 06 Tim Paul 2:03.872 95.034 6 +7.016 +0.020 19 51 Dan Denison/M 2:04.475 94.573 6 +7.619 +0.603 20 90 Robert Wright/M 2:04.644 94.445 6 +7.788 +0.169 21 42 Bill Jordan/M 2:06.168 93.304 6 +9.312 +1.524 22 27 Craig Clawson/M 2:06.956 92.725 2 +10.100 +0.788 23 72 Francis Kennette 2:19.300 84.508 2 +22.444 +10.965 24 25 Jeff McCusker/M 2:23.875 81.821 1 +27.019 +1.710 25 94 Al Guibord,Sr./M 2:08.335 91.729 5 +11.479 +1.379 26 37 Chris Livengood -.--- - 0 - - 27 60 Mark Felsen 2:22.165 82.805 2 +25.309 +2.865 28 22 Giancarlo Potolicchio 2:25.086 81.138 4 +28.230 +1.211