Leading the field of fourteen GT cars in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve Sonoma 250 at Infineon Raceway on Saturday will be the 72 NEC Tafel Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, which was qualified on the pole by Robin Liddell of Scotland with a lap time of 1:38.425 on the 2.52 mile road course. Liddell’s co-driver in the race will be Wolf Henzler of Germany.  The 72 car had the best lap time in the first practice session, but went off course and sustained damage in session two which was not able to be repaired in time for practice three.  The crew came to the rescue in their typical style, working hard to have the car ready in time for qualifying. This will be the fifth time the 72 has qualified on the pole. Henzler and Liddell have won three Rolex series races this season and are second in team points.

The 73 NEC Tafel Racing Porsche GT3 cup, qualified 7th by Andrew Davis of Bogart, Ga., will be co-driven by team owner Jim Tafel of Alpharetta, Ga. Davis qualified on the pole in the previous race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham and just missed the podium at Daytona in the Brumos Porsche 250, finishing fourth, their best finish of the season.  The 73 is eighth in team points.  Tafel was appreciative of what both Liddell and the crew accomplished today. “Having Robin on the pole in the 72 is great because it shows the strength of the team we have put together.  Robin and Wolf have done so much, and are such great drivers but in the end it’s about everyone on the crew, too and this finish just makes that obvious.”

Completing the Tafel Racing team is the 74 Rembrandt Charms Porsche GT3 Cup, driven by Ian James of Phoenix, Az. and Eric Lux, of Buffalo, NY, who qualified the car in 10th position.  Lux qualified 2nd at the 24 Hours of Daytona and finished 3rd at the Brumos Porsche 250, his best finish so far.  James has only been driving with the team for the last three races, but has helped to produce two of their highest results of the season. He has finished on the podium at Infineon and hopes to use that experience to produce a good result in the race.  Lux, who is only in his second season of full-time racing, has never raced at this circuit before, but is quickly gaining experience as the lap times in the 74 have come down in each session.