After a year where Muscle Milk Pickett Racing has dominated the action in the P1 class, it now looks like we have a dramatic fight on our hands with Dyson Racing’s Guy Smith storming to pole position today.

The pole from the Brit was his first since Lime Rock Park last year and he’ll now go down in history as scoring pole position in his final American Le Mans Series race.

Smith is not scheduled to drive at Petit Le Mans this year.

Klaus Graf took his best shot at continuing the Muscle Milk domination but fell .204 of a second short. He wasn’t going down easy either – the German HPD driver nearly running off track trying to match the pace of the Mazda-Lola.

“Its been a pretty tough year for us a Dyson racing this year, particularly for myself because I’ve been coming back and forth,” Smith said.

“I knew this would be my last ALMS race so I wanted to go out with a good one. You never know what you’re going to be granted in qualifying.

“The Muscle Milk guys have been really strong all season, and we knew where they were quicker and we were quicker around the track. We made some small changes to find those tenths that made us quicker. I’ve had the chance to drive GT cars and to drive P1 cars, and driving a P1 car around here is so fun. So many quick corners and flat out corners that it’s really a thrill.”

Smith will drive tomorrow with Johnny Mowlem who enters this weekend’s race after claiming the GT championship in the European Le Mans Series last weekend aboard a Ram Racing Ferrari.

While disappointed not to claim the pole, the recently crowned P1 co-champion (with Lucas Luhr) is looking forward to a fierce battle tomorrow.

“It was an exciting qualifying, not quite the way we wanted it to be but that’s racing sometimes,” Graf said.

“We couldn’t quite get the performance out of the car we wanted today but it’s still a long race tomorrow. We’ll work on it tonight and I’m sure the Muscle Milk HPD will be competitive come race time.

“Dyson was competitive here last year and they were pretty close to us. With Guy Smith coming back in the car for this race, we were expecting them to be strong, and with them on the same Michelin tires as us, they have a good package. I’m confident we’ll give them a good race tomorrow.”