Braselton, Ga. (3 October 2014) – Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian will start Saturday’s 17th running of the Petit Le Mans from the third row after Ozz Negri posted a fast lap time of 1:15.346-seconds to take sixth on the grid for the season ending 2014 IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship event.

Negri’s co-driver John Pew will open the 10-hour race from behind the wheel of the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Ford EcoBoost/Riley machine before turning the car over to Negri to take to the finish. The duo is the only Prototype team completing the race with just two drivers.

Michael Shank Racing opened the first practice session with a fast car right from the start, posting strong lap times in the mixed GTD and Prototype Class practice sessions.

“It’s not too bad, the car I think could be pretty good in the race,” said team owner Mike Shank. “For speed, I think we’re actually a little bit better than the Corvette but we’re still not where we need to be qualifying-wise. I think in the race, we should be okay. It’s a long race and we know anything can happen. We need to do a little work for warm-up but I think we’ll be good.”

The qualifying session was halted several times for cars off track but Negri was able to put in a fast lap of 1:15.346-seconds in the abbreviated session to take sixth on the grid.

“It’s the same for everybody,” said Negri of the limited track time. “I think we had more understeer than I wanted – more understeer than what I like. To be honest, on the last lap I made a mistake going into Turn 10a and it definitely cost us a tenth there, but that’s alright, it’s a long race. Last year I finished second here at Petit (racing in a PC car with Sean Rayhall) so I’m looking forward to it.”

The Petit Le Mans will start at 11:15 AM ET on Saturday. LIVE coverage will be carried via video streaming on IMSA.com with FOX Sports 2 to broadcast the race in progress starting