BMW’s Joey Hand clinched pole position in the GT class at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca today – the Sacramento-born California boy hoping to clinch the the GT driver’s championship in tomorrow’s race with Dirk Mueller.

Hand and Mueller need to extend their points lead by six points over Jan Magnussen and Oliver Gavin after the six-hour race tomorrow.

A win for the BMW squad and third place by the Corvette duo will be enough to give Hand and Mueller their first ALMS championships.

Magnussen and Gavin showed they are not about to give up the title chase without a fight – Gavin qualifying second today.

Bill Auberlen was third fastest for BMW but the giant-killing performance came from Extreme Speed’s Guy Cosmo who set the fourth fastest time.

The Risi Competizone team had a day to forget after a practice crash with its Ferrari and subsequent fuel pressure problems at the end of qualifying.

Click the PLAY button below to listen to Joey Hand talk about his pole position at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

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