The bottom section of Pikes Peak was where the unlimited cars found themselves this morning battling it out for not only practice, but qualifying as well. The fastest time gets to chose if he or she wants to go first or last, and on Pikes Peak those few minutes mean the difference in snow or rain.
Monster Tajima has not been his usual self leading the unlimited classes like previous years in practice until today. The bottom section of Pikes Peak is the only section that is not fully paved and come next year it will be. Tajima crushed the competition today of Rhys Millen and Paul Dallenbach edging Millen out by 15 seconds on the bottom section. Although Tajima was 15 seconds ahead of Millen, Rhys, himself, was 15 seconds faster than Tajima on the top section only yesterday. Dallenbach finds himself just barely behind Rhys and his Hyundai powered PM580 and has been the most consistent driver along with Millen.
Rhys put down two solid runs, but still trailing Tajima by quite a margin before having trouble with his gearing and was forced to sit out on his last run. Monster Tajima will have top honors and elect to go first or last in Sunday’s race.
The faster Millen on pavement versus the faster Tajima on dirt it seems and Sunday is sure to be a thriller. Do not be too fast to count out Dallenbach just yet. With his 1300HP twin turbo beast this Sunday will be a good one that you wont want to miss!
Rod Millen has been the man to beat in the 2wd class all week through testing and today was no different. Millen’s Hyundai Genesis Coupe is the number one qualifier in the 2wd class beating Jeff Zwart and his Porsche 911 GT2RS by 1.5 seconds today in qualifying. The older Millen, however, built a 13 second lead over Zwart in previous practice sessions.
The 4WD Time Attack class is lead by rally and drift driver Stephan Verdier and his highly modified Subaru Impreza WRX. He qualifies with a 5 second lead over the next closest car of David Kern and his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
Sunday is race day! Be sure to check back for final race results and driver interviews.
For more qualifying information from today please visit: www.ppihc.com 
