Road America IMSA: Albuquerque on pole for Acura, Bourdais crashes hard
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque took pole position for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America for Acura in a red-flagged qualifying, while Lexus took GTD pole thanks to Jack Hawksworth.
Albuquerque (Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05) set 1m49.303s and then improved to 1m48.955s. “It just felt amazing,” he said of his pole-winning lap.
Alex Lynn responded with 1m49.097s in his Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, which was good for the outside of the front row. Tom Blomqvist (Meyer Shank Racing Acura) took third with 1m49.984s, but his late-running strategy was compromised by a red flag.
With two minutes to go, Sebastien Bourdais dropped his #01 CGR Caddy at the final corner and ploughed through the gravel at high speed and into the tire wall. He was unhurt but will start last in class.
Richard Westbrook qualified fourth in JDC-Miller’s Cadillac, ahead of Oliver Pla’s Action Express version.
Steven Thomas, who has a new partner this weekend, as Tristan Nunez replaces Jonathan Bomarito, set pole in LMP2 for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, a tenth clear of the sister car of Patrick Kelly.
Malthe Jakobsen took LMP3 pole for Sean Creech Motorsport, almost three quarters of a second clear of Jarett Andretti (Andretti Autosport).
#14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Lexus wins GTD pole after Porsche battle
In GTD, pole switched hands several times between multiple manufacturers throughout the session.
Frankie Montecalvo (VasserSullivan Lexus RC F) set the early pace to be shot at, setting a laptime of 2m05.334s. Antonio Garcia took provisional pole away in his Chevrolet Corvette C8.R with 2m05.930s, then trimmed that down to 2m05.829s.
Robby Foley put BMW into the mix, with 2m06.084s in the Turner Motorsports M4, while Montecalvo improved to 2m06.224s.
But in the closing moments, Pfaff Porsche’s Matt Campbell grabbed P1 with 2m05.618s before Hawksworth snatched it with 2m05.365s in the Pro-class VasserSullivan Lexus, topping the session by a quarter of a second.
Campbell tried one last desperate attempt, and was 0.3sec quicker than pole time through sector 2, but spun at the final corner, and might have damaged the Michelins with which he will have to start the race.
There was also a huge moment for Alex Riberas’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, who took a wild ride across the grass at the exit of The Kink.
Garcia will start third, ending the session almost half a second back, ahead of non-Pros Foley and Montecalvo.
Cla | Driver | Class | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque |
DPi | Acura DPi | 6 | 1'48.915 | 133.800 | |
2 | Earl Bamber Alex Lynn |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 5 | 1'49.097 | 0.182 | 133.577 |
3 | Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist |
DPi | Acura DPi | 5 | 1'49.841 | 0.926 | 132.672 |
4 | Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 7 | 1'50.322 | 1.407 | 132.093 |
5 | Olivier Pla Pipo Derani |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 7 | 1'50.369 | 1.454 | 132.037 |
6 | Steven Thomas Tristan Nunez |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 7 | 1'54.137 | 5.222 | 127.678 |
7 | Patrick Kelly Josh Pierson |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 7 | 1'54.271 | 5.356 | 127.528 |
8 | Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 7 | 1'54.677 | 5.762 | 127.077 |
9 | Dennis Andersen Fabio Scherer |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 7 | 1'54.678 | 5.763 | 127.076 |
10 | John Farano Louis Deletraz |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 7 | 1'54.809 | 5.894 | 126.931 |
11 | Henrik Hedman Juan Pablo Montoya |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 7 | 1'54.833 | 5.918 | 126.904 |
12 | Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 6 | 1'59.434 | 10.519 | 122.016 |
13 | Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 6 | 2'00.163 | 11.248 | 121.275 |
14 | Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 8 | 2'00.969 | 12.054 | 120.467 |
15 | Dakota Dickerson Josh Sarchet |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 7 | 2'01.083 | 12.168 | 120.354 |
16 | James French Cameron Shields |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 7 | 2'01.369 | 12.454 | 120.070 |
17 | Jon Bennett Colin Braun |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 6 | 2'02.778 | 13.863 | 118.692 |
18 | Ari Balogh Garett Grist |
LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 8 | 2'03.907 | 14.992 | 117.611 |
19 | Gerry Kraut Scott Andrews |
LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 8 | 2'04.307 | 15.392 | 117.232 |
20 | Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat |
GTD PRO | Lexus RC F GT3 | 4 | 2'05.365 | 16.450 | 116.243 |
21 | Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet |
GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 4 | 2'05.618 | 16.703 | 116.009 |
22 | Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor |
GTD PRO | Corvette C8.R GTD | 5 | 2'05.829 | 16.914 | 115.814 |
23 | Orey Fidani Matthew Bell |
LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 8 | 2'05.942 | 17.027 | 115.710 |
24 | Robby Foley Bill Auberlen |
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 5 | 2'06.084 | 17.169 | 115.580 |
25 | Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 5 | 2'06.224 | 17.309 | 115.452 |
26 | Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 6 | 2'06.237 | 17.322 | 115.440 |
27 | Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer |
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 4 | 2'06.275 | 17.360 | 115.405 |
28 | Connor de Phillippi John Edwards |
GTD PRO | BMW M4 GT3 | 5 | 2'06.289 | 17.374 | 115.392 |
29 | Russell Ward Philip Ellis |
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 6 | 2'06.297 | 17.382 | 115.385 |
30 | Ross Gunn Alex Riberas |
GTD PRO | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 4 | 2'06.517 | 17.602 | 115.185 |
31 | Roman De Angelis Maxime Martin |
GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 5 | 2'06.631 | 17.716 | 115.081 |
32 | Bryan Sellers Madison Snow |
GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 5 | 2'06.674 | 17.759 | 115.042 |
33 | Cooper MacNeil Daniel Juncadella |
GTD | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 6 | 2'07.895 | 18.980 | 113.943 |
34 | Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 6 | 2'07.999 | 19.084 | 113.851 |
35 | Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 3 | |||
36 | Jaden Conwright Marco Holzer |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 6 | |||
37 | Ryan Eversley Aidan Read |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 6 | |||
View full results |
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