Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque took pole position for this weekend’s IMSA SportsCar Championship round at Road America.
Albuquerque beat his team-mate Jordan Taylor and Cadillac Racing’s Renger van der Zande in the 15-minute GTP qualifying session ahead of Sunday’s 2h40m race around the four-mile track that’s the self-proclaimed ‘America’s National Park of Speed’ and features a 47-car entry.
The premier class GTP hybrids are back in action at Elkhart Lake after taking a break at Mosport last month, where LMP2 was the top category.
Albuquerque set the benchmark at 1m49.559s in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, as Dane Cameron took a wild trip through the gravel in the points-leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 at the Carousel.
Taylor beat the provisional pole time with 1m49.235s in the sister No. 40 Acura, before Albuquerque retook P1 with 1m48.968s, and his pole tear continued with a 1m48.601s that couldn’t be beaten.
Van der Zande entered the conversation by grabbing P2 in the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R despite being half a second off the pace. But Taylor retook second with 1m48.915s with two minutes to go, still three tenths down on Albuquerque, while van der Zande got within 0.005s of Taylor but stayed third.
“I could not go faster,” said Albuquerque. “It’s (team-mate) Ricky (Taylor’s) birthday and I promised him a pole.”
Jordan Taylor improved to 1m48.863s on his final effort, 0.262s down on the pole time. Van der Zande will start third, with the rapid Gianmaria Bruni the fastest Porsche in Proton’s customer No. 5 963 in fourth, ahead of the Action Express-run Cadillac of Pipo Derani.
Connor De Phillippi’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8, which set the pace in practice, will start from the third row in sixth. Nick Tandy was the quickest of the factory Porsches in his No. 6 PPM 963, beating Richard Westbrook’s JDC-Miller MotorSport example and Cameron’s No. 7 car.
BMW’s No. 24 car didn’t take part in qualifying after Jesse Krohn hit the wall at the Kink in FP2 this morning, requiring a serious repair job that included a new hybrid battery and transmission. But as the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team attempted to get the car going, the complex energy storage system refused to comply.
#99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2-Gibson: PJ Hyett, Paul-Loup Chatin
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Hyett scores fourth consecutive pole in LMP2
Overall Mosport winner Nick Boulle set the early pace for Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen, but AO Racing’s PJ Hyett was keen on extending his recent run of poles by pipping his 1m54.516s by 0.024s with a 1m54.492s. Hyett improved to 1m53.818s on his next tour before slamming in 1m53.738s on his last lap.
“To get pole at Road America is such an amazing feeling, my grandfather taught me to drive just 100 miles from here,” said Hyett.
Ben Keating was back out in United Autosports’ No. 2 car after he suffered a brutal crash at the Carousel in FP2 this morning. He grabbed P2 as the clock ticked down with 1m54.110s.
Daniel Goldburg was third quickest in the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca with 1m54.129s. Early pole challenger Boulle worked down to 1m54.303s but slipped to fourth.
Luis Perez Companc was fifth for AF Corse despite an off at Turn 12.
#4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Corvette Racing 1-2 in GTD Pro
In GTD Pro, Nicky Catsburg took pole position in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R with an early lap of 2m02.198s, which was three tenths quicker than Alexander Sims’ first try in the No. 3 sister Pratt Miller Motorsports-run car. Sims got within 0.194s on his second push lap to ensure the Corvette 1-2.
“It was an awesome lap and the car was really dialled in, super-cool to have a 1-2 again,” said Catsburg.
Giacomo Altoe was an impressive third fastest in Conquest Racing’s Ferrari 296, ahead of Jack Hawksworth – who had set the pace in FP2 but suffered a big wreck in the Pilot Challenge race that preceded qualifying – in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F.
Oddly, Hawksworth stopped just ahead of the pitlane entry on his in-lap.
Mike Rockenfeller was next up in the No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang from Oliver Jarvis in Pfaff Motorsports’ McLaren 720S.
Mikael Grenier was fastest in the pro-am GTD class in Korthoff/Preston Motorsports’ Mercedes-AMG, just over a tenth clear of Zach Robichon’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.