Alex Job Racing

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada - Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team driver Bill Auberlen qualified fifth for this afternoon's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Round 10 race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Driving the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche-powered Riley, it took Auberlen most of the 15-minute qualifying session to record the fifth quickest qualifying time with a 1:34.383 (103.328 mph) around the 2.708-mile, 15-turn road course. This was quite an accomplishment considering the team got very little track time yesterday due to the fact that the team had to change an engine just a few laps into the first of four practice sessions.

"I had no idea what I had," Auberlen said enthusiastically after qualifying. "I had only driven five laps up to this point. I went out there and the car was way better than what I was prepared to have. [Throughout qualifying] the car was coming to us. I had a real good lap going when I came to the last brake zone. The brake pedal went long. I brushed the gas pedal and I blew the whole lap, which would have been a better lap than what I ended up with. But, it's good to know that we've got a quick car despite the limited practice time yesterday."

"We are very happy with qualifying," Team Engineer Greg Fordahl said regarding the top-five spot. "We had very little time to set the car up, so it was sort of a blind guess. Bill said the car is good. It was just a shame we couldn't get a little more out of it."

The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Round 10 race will start at 4:15 p.m. (ET) today. The race will be televised; however it will be same day tape-delayed and will air at 8 p.m. (ET) on SPEED. Race fans can watch live timing and scoring at www.grand-am.com.