Daytona Prototypes dominated qualifying for this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Alex Gurney taking the top spot aboard the Gainsco Racing Bob Stallings Corvette DP.

Gurney surprised the field by toppling the pacesetting Spirit of Daytona entry from Richard Westbrook.

Gurney will share the No.99 machine with regular endurance teammates Jon Fogarty, Memo Gidley and Darren Law – an all American line-up.

“I’m really happy and excited about this all. I have to say a big thank you to Bob Stallings and everyone on the team,” Gurney said.

“Most of the team worked right through Christmas and New Year’s with no real time off due to all the changes and challenges. This means a lot to our team. It feels really good to pull it off.”

“We were pretty diligent all through the testing we did and concentrated on full-tank runs. We never really went low-fuel to show what we had. When we pulled the fuel out, the time came. We were pretty happy with the car and it’s nice to get this pole.”

“We’ve had quite a few sessions to run together and I think everyone has a feel for where they are going to be. I don’t expect things to be massively different. Obviously there are some bigger closing speeds. On the banking, I’d like to see cars stay low more often; sometimes when a guy stays in the middle, you don’t know which way he is going to go. For the prototype cars that have more top speed, that can be a little more tricky. There are a lot of really good drivers in this field and it should be OK.”

DP cars filled the first seven spots on the grid ahead of the DeltaWing of Katherine Legge. The fastest Le Mans-style P2 car was the Nissan-powered ORECA of Lucas Luhr.

The Gainsco Bob Stallings team is only confirmed to run five races in the championship this year but pole position will help the team’s chances in continuing for a full-season effort.

“Bob and everyone are trying to find more ways to keep going,” Gurney said.

“You never know. Starting well and finishing well is the best place to be. I think we’re in a good position as far as doing some more races.”