Ricky Taylor has put the #7 Acura ARX-05 on pole position for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend, leading a front row lockout for Acura Team Penske.
Taylor outqualified team-mate Dane Cameron in the closing stages of the session. Cameron has initially led the way in the #6 Acura ARX-05, but saw his best efforts bested by Taylor, who took the top spot with a 01:49:061. Cameron was 0.318s further back.
The DPi session at Road America was red flagged in the final minutes when Felipe Nasr sent the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR spinning into the gravel at turn three.
Mazda Motorsports locked out the second row, with the #55 Mazda RT24-P of Harry Tincknell qualifying third with a 01:49:607, just over half a second off the pole time. Another half a second further back was the #77 Mazda of Tristan Nunez.
Ryan Briscoe was the best placed Cadillac driver in fifth, but his best efforts in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-VR left him over a second off the pole time.
Nasr had initially taken fifth place, but had his fastest lap deleted for causing the red flag. He was demoted to seventh, with Joao Barbosa sixth in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-VR. Chris Miller brought up the rear in class for JDC-Miller Motorsports.
Patrick Kelly added to a stellar 2020 campaign by taking a convincing pole in LMP2. Kelly’s best time of 01:54:474 put the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson nearly a full second up on Henrik Hedman in the #81 Dragonspeed ORECA, with Cameron Cassels third for Performance Tech Motorsports.
Porsche on top in GTLM dogfight
In GTLM, Porsche came out on top in a tight qualifying battle, which featured a new qualifying lap record. Laurens Vanthoor took pole in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with a time of 02:00:590.
Vanthoor outqualified the #3 Corvette C8.R of Jordan Taylor by a tight margin, with Taylor only 0.264s off pole. The Corvette driver was unable to improve upon his best time of 02:00:854, despite his best efforts.
Oliver Gavin was third fastest in the #4 Corvette C8.R, exactly 0.050s behind his team-mate. Gavin shares the second row of the GTLM grid with the #25 BMW M8 GTE, with Bruno Spengler setting a 02:01:155 to go fourth fastest.
Jesse Krohn had one of his fast laps deleted for track infringements at turn 1, but qualified fifth in the #24 BMW M8 GTE. Fred Makowiecki was sixth in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19.
Lexus dominates GTD once more
AIM Vasser Sullivan once again dominated qualifying in GTD with a front row lockout.
Aaron Telitz was significantly quicker than his team-mate, setting a 02:06:251 in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 to beat Frankie Montecalvo in the #12 Lexus by 0.787s.
Corey Fergus set a late 02:07:265 to go third fastest in the #76 McLaren 720S GT3 for Compass Racing, while Robby Foley set the fourth fastest time for Turner Motorsports.
Foley crashed the #96 BMW M6 GT3 in the second free practice session, but the car was repaired in time for Foley to complete the second row. The top five in GTD was completed by Gar Robinson in the #74 Mercedes-AMG GT3, who was 1.660s oof the pole time.
