SALINAS, California — Guy Smith wanted one more shot at a clean qualifying lap after he heard over the radio that he was 1.3 seconds behind the leader. He said after earning the pole position “I was thinking ‘That’s going to be a lot to overcome’. So I composed myself, and put down a whole lap. It was great when they told me I was P1,” he said.

It was the first pole for the Mazda team in the ALMS series and also the first non Michelin pole winner since 2004.

Second fastest was the the Acura ARX-01c with David Brabham at the wheel nearly seven tenths of a second behind the leader. Third was the Porsche RS Spyder Muscle Milk Car driven by Klaus Graf. Graf was eight tenths of a second behind Brabham.

However, the Honda was placed last on the grid by officials since all of the drivers did not participate in either of the two official test sessions on Friday.

In the GT2 class it was a pair of Ferarri 430 GTs that danced to the fast music with Jaime Melo taking the top time and Johannes van Overbeek in the second position. Third place went to the ZR1 Corvette with Oliver Gavin at the wheel. The Vette was just a blink of the eye slower than the second place Ferarri and it points to the fact the FGT2 class is about as competitive as you can get without having a spec class.

In the Saturday morning test session Marino Franchitti posted the best time in the Acura and Chris Dyson was second fastest in the Mazda. In perhaps a surprise to some the Drayson Lola Judd was third fastest with Emaneule Pirro, the former Audi factory driver on pace with the top two cars about half a second slower than Franchitti.

The Drayson team will look for a little vindication on the Monterey track after it had qualified last fall in the top three and then was involved in an early race shunt that put the team out of the race. Owner Paul Drayson, after some pre-qualifying pit drama,  bettered his personal best of the weekend and earned the sixth fastest time of the session. However, due to the moving of the No.1 Highcroft Racing entry to the back of the grid, Drayson will take the green flag fifth, inside of Row Three.