Friday practice & Qualifying - Mexico City 250
First car to break into 1.19's. Front Row start on Saturday!

2008.04.18:

Brian would be first out this morning and take advantage of work the team did overnight on the #61 Ford Riley. Early laps were on pace with their Thursday times and Brian would bring the car in for adjustments over the first twelve laps. To this point the car was in the top three through most of the session. On lap thirteen Brian would record a 1:20.131 and move to P1, taking more than a second off their best time. Two laps later he would be the first car to hit the 19's with a 1:19.823 at 112.749 mph. Brian's time would be nipped by just 3/100ths before he would come in to hand the controls over to Mark. ... read more

Mark would record fourteen laps getting used to the changes in the setup and would progressively improve his time. He would go on to qualifying and record a 1:19.537 at 113.155 mph to secure the front row position for Saturday's race. He would fall just 29/1000ths off pole.

The Exchange Traded Gold #61 Ford Riley was one of only two cars to get into the 1:19's which reinforces Ian Willis' comments that "We have the car to win this weekend."

Mark commented during the post-qualifying press conference: "Brian did a great job in getting the car set up and was turning consistent laps. We are really happy for the team that we put the car on the front row and in just three races so far, we have qualified in the top five. We now have a shot from the front row to bring the #61 Ford Riley to the podium."

The race is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. (CT) Saturday (4:15 p.m. ET) and will be broadcast live on Speed TV starting at 4:00 p.m.

Thursday practice - Mexico City 250
Wilkins & Frisselle go P1 in session 1 - tough time in session 2

2008.04.17:

Mark and Brian were fastest in the first session today at Mexico City but suspension problems that cropped up late in the going meant session two would be used as a shakedown by the crew to address any issues. By the time the car was handed over to Brian in session 2, he reported that the car felt fine but he was not able to get in a clean fast lap.

Team Manager Ian Willis reported "We are very happy with the speed of the Exchange Traded Gold #61 Ford Riley. We were a bit off in the second practice due to the suspension issues but we think the car will be on pace for qualifying tomorrow afternoon."

There is another practice session at 10:30 (ET) Friday with qualifying at 12:40. Reports will be posted following each session.

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