World Cup News

Lally earns the pole and breaks the track record

Andy Lally poses with his prior to his record setting run.  Photo Marcus Rietema

Bathurst, Australia- Andy Lally turned in a spectacular run in his final qualifying attempt to earn the pole position for the Newton’s Playground / IGSA World Championship Street Luge race.

The American’s time of 59.840 lowered the track record he set on Friday by more than two full seconds. He is the first and only person to break the one-minute mark down the difficult 1.3 km Mount Panorama course. Lally is now considered the favorite to win today’s Street Luge World Championship race.  

Yvon Labarthe flying towards the finish in qualifying. Photo Cyrille Harnay

Qualifying second was current World Cup Series points leader Yvon Labarthe who turned in a time of 60.500.  Labarthe had the quickest time of the first qualifying run and shaved off nearly a half second on his second effort, but it wasn’t enough to hold onto the pole position.  The Swiss ace is still in a great position to win the race and wrap up the Championship.

Pete Eliot awaits his qualifying run. Photo Marcus Rietema

Pete Eliot from London, England moved into the #3 spot with a time of 1:01.080.   He worked overnight making repairs to his sled after crashing hard in Friday’s qualifying run.  Eliot is currently sitting second in points and is engaged in a dogfight with Labarthe for the World Cup Series Championship. 

Will Stephenson from Wocester, England lines up fourth and defending Bathurst winner Nick Duffield will start fifth.  Duffield crashed heavily exiting Forest’s Elbow on his final qualifying run so he was forced to rely on his Friday time. 

2008 World Champion Matthias Lang withdrew from the race due to a possible lower leg fracture.  He crashed heavily during qualifying on Friday and was unable to continue.       

Lally, Stephenson, Eliot & Hicks take off on a practice run.  Photo Marcus Rietema