Buford, who broke his own track record, will be joined on the front row by Nick Longhi, second fastest in the Grand Sport (GS) class with a lap of 1:56.105 (110.383 mph) in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche 911. A year ago, Buford won his first career pole with a lap of 109.977 mph in a Multimatic Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage.
The two-hour, 30-minute race begins at 1:45 p.m. ET on Friday. Round 1 of the 2014 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge will be televised on FOX Sports 2 on Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
The red flag waved early in the session, with the lengthy delay giving Buford and his fellow GS competitors the opportunity for only one flying lap following the restart.
“We knew we were not as fast as the BMW or Porsche teams, so I knew it would take strategy to set up a good lap to have a shot,” said Buford, who now has seven career poles. “I gave it everything on the one lap that counted, and we made it count.”
Longhi ‘s first lap was his quickest in his bid for a second Daytona pole in three years.
“Obviously, in such a competitive series, you’ve got to go for it right away,” said Longhi, who co-drove to the 2013 GS title with Matt Plumb. “On my first lap I got out just about everything I could for the car. Unfortunately, I got caught in the middle of traffic following the restart and lost any chance of going faster.”
Trent Hindman qualified third, running 1:56.230 (110.264 mph) in the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 co-driven by John Edwards. Fourth fastest was Lawson Aschenbach, 1:56.625 (109.891 mph) in the No. 01 CKS Autosport Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.
[Source: IMSA]