SONOMA, Calif. (July 15, 2005) – Leighton Reese, of Minnetonka, Minn., posted the fastest time of two SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT practice sessions Friday, taking the top spot in his No. 6 Banner Engineering Corvette C6 with a mark of 1:41.561 (89.680 mph) on the 2.53-mile course at the Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma Presented by Ravenswood Winery, site of the seventh round of the 2005 SPEED GT Championship.

Leighton Reese at Infineon Raceway

Wolf Henzler, of Nurtingen, Germany, was second in the No. 55 Applied Materials/Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 Cup with a 1:42.160 (89.154 mph), and James Sofronas, of Newport Beach, Calif., was third with a 1:42.175 (89.141 mph) in the No. 14 Greek Brothers Rcg/GMG/Tecmark Porsche 911 Cup.  Both of their times came during the morning session.

Reese’s top time also came in the morning, which turned out to be a good thing as his afternoon session was cut short after an incident also involving the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette C6 driven by Sonny Whelen, of Old Saybrook, Conn. 

“Unfortunately, we were being aggressive, and that’s what you have to do to go fast,” Reese said.  “But, we had an accident, and I’m sorry that Sonny’s [Whelen] car is probably beat up too. We’ll get it going and be back tomorrow for qualifying.”

Mike McCann, of N. Canton, Ohio, was fourth in the No. 82 McCann Plastics/K&N Filters Dodge Viper, followed by “Mad” Max Papis, of Miami, Fla., in the No. 16 XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose/Cadillac CTS-V. 

Reese will lead the rest of the SPEED GT field into Saturday’s qualifying session, which is set for 9:25 a.m.  The Round Seven SPEED GT race will follow in the afternoon with the 25-lap event scheduled for a 1:05 p.m. start.  All times are Pacific.

To follow Saturday’s qualifying and race action via live timing and scoring, or for other information, visit www.world-challenge.com.