Grand Prix: ALMS, Pro/Celebrity Qualifying Set

The second round of the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series gets underway Saturday afternoon with a two-hour race.

In the more sophisticated P1 class, which fields only three cars, Nick Heidfeld and Neel Jani will start on pole in their Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 with a time of 1 minute 12.600 seconds around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street course that defines the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The Lola averaged of 97.587 mph, less than 5 mph slower than Ryan Hunter-Reay's fastest practice time in the Indycars at 102.054 mph.

Ryan Briscoe, who didn't secure a fulltime ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season, and Level 5 Motorsports teammate Scott Tucker will start fourth overall after winning the pole in the P2 class with a time of 1:16.014 (93.204 mph). 

Former Champ Car veteran Bruno Junqueira, racing with teammate Duncan Ende in an Oreca FLM09, qualified fifth overall to lead the PC class at 1:16.167 (93.017 mph).

"I love Long Beach," said Junqueira, who effor in the car just edged Colin Braun, who will be teaming with Jon Bennett. "Short race for our standards but it will be very exciting for the fans."

The top qualifying GT car was a SRT Viper GTS-R, which was 13th overall, and will be piloted by Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher. That car clocked 1:18.845 (89.857 mph).

Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen, starting 22nd in a Porsch 911 GT3, will lead the nine-car GTC field with a time of 1:22.850 (85.414 mph).

The race begins at 4:30 p.m., and can be see Sunday on ABC.

Racing analyst on pole for 37th Pro/Celebrity Race

When the celebrities and pros take the green flag Saturday for the 37th annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, a racing commentator will be in the pole posiiton.

Rutledge Wood posted the fastest time during qualifying on Friday with a time of 1:46.505, which converts to an average speed of 66.521 mph.

Wood was within a second of the top qualifying professional, Olympic gold medal swimmer Tyler Clary, who clocked 1:45.569 with a speed of 67.111 mph.

Three of the four professional drivers—either racers or celebrities who are former winners—had times better than Wood. In addition to Clary, those pros were freestyle motocross rider Andy Bell and former winner Adam Corolla. Drag racer Melanie Troxel, who is more used to racing speeds of 300 mph, was 11th overall in the identically prepared Toyota Scion FR-S sports cars.

Starting alongside Wood, a racing analyst with Fox Sports and co-host of "Top Gear USA," is former "Entertainment Tonight" personality Mark Steines. Behind them in the second row are Michael Trucco of "Battlestar Galactica" fame and Glen Faber, partner and general manager of Los Angeles area Keyes Toyota. 

The four professional drivers will start 30 seconds behind the celebrities in the 10-lap race.

For winning the pole, Wood picked Victory Junction, a camp for seriously ill children, as the charity to receive $15,000.

The field also includes actress Jenna Elfman, actors Jeremy Sisto, Jesse Metcalfe and Jackson Rathbone, comedian Wanda Sykes, telenovela star Kate del Castillo and Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Jessica Hardy.

Other track activities

The Super Drift Challenge, part of te first night racing taking place during the Long Beach event, begins at 7 p.m.

In addition to the ALMS and Pro/Celebrity races, qualifying takes place for the Firestone Indy Lights at 12:55 p.m., and the IndyCar Series at at 2 p.m. IndyCar practice is at 10:40 a.m.