The Northeast Grand Prix will feature the entire GT field, but no prototypes at the tight Connecticut road course.
The 15-minute qualifying session was frantic with traffic becoming an issue for several drivers.
Antonio Garcia in the Corvette C8.R was aggressive from the get-go, and the GTD Pro driver asserted himself with an early time good enough to top the charts. He was the first driver under the 51-second bracket as the track record was swiftly broken.
However, he would not be the last as several others began to put down impressive lap times. Both Jack Hawksworth in the Lexus No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and Ross Gunn in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 would eclipse him. Gunn ended up fastest of all with a 50.593s lap, almost two tenths clear of the championship-leading Lexus..
It was Gunn’s second career IMSA pole.
#32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3: Mike Skeen, Mikael Grenier
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Mike Skeen topped the GTD runners, trailing just behind the five Pro entries. His fast lap was 51.157s, but the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO of Frederik Schandorff got within 0.007s of the pole-sitting No. 32 Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3.
You’d have to go deep down the order to find the GTD points leader with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 set to start 14th overall in Saturday’s 20-car field.
Although there were no crashes, there was a minor incident in Turn 1 as the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher was forced to utilize the run-off at Turn 1
The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R also had a bit of a moment over the curbs through the chicane, but Patrick Pilet managed to keep the car on course.
