Road America IMSA: Alon on pole for JDC-Miller, Ford 1-2 in GTLM

The 15-minute prototype session produced a thrilling battle for pole, with five drivers swapping the top spot between them.

Colin Braun, who was on pole for the last two races in his #54 CORE Oreca LMP2, set the benchmark at 1m53.213s. Juan Pablo Montoya (#6 Penske Acura DPi) swiped that away with a 1m53-flat, then Renger van der Zande (#10 WTR Cadillac DPi) took P1 with 1m52.458s. Acura’s Ricky Taylor lowered the bar to 1m52.140s in #7, but it was Alon – the fifth driver to hold the top spot – who unleashed a 1m52.048, and followed that up with a 1m51.933s to put himself out of reach.

Alon’s #85 JDC-Miller Oreca LMP2 took pole by 0.207s from Ricky Taylor.

“Whether we start first, second or third I don’t think it’s a big deal,” said Alon. “My first flying lap felt right, and we went low fuel for the opening laps and hit it right-on. We’ve been building throughout the year, and it’s come from good teamwork basically.”

Braun will start third, having improved to 1m56.495s. Van der Zande qualified fifth, ahead of Montoya and Oliver Jarvis’s #77 Joest Mazda.

Joao Barbosa qualified seventh on his return to the series in the #5 Cadillac, ahead of Harry Tincknell in the second Mazda.

#66 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, GTLM: Dirk Muller, Joey Hand

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Muller leads Ford 1-2 in GTLM

In GT Le Mans, Ford ruled the roost. Dirk Muller produced a 2m03.042s on his first flying lap in the #66 Ganassi-run GT, before recording a 2m02.533s and then 2m02.479s. Antonio Garcia held P2 for Corvette Racing for much of the session on 2m02.746s, but Ryan Briscoe made it a Ford 1-2 with a late 2m02.650s effort in the #67 GT.

It was Muller’s third consecutive class pole at Road America, and the points leader – along with teammate Joey Hand – said: “I really love this place, a lot of corners are like the Nordschleife. It’s always good to start first.”

Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor jumped to fourth on his final lap with a 2m03.114s in the #912 RSR, pushing Oliver Gavin back to fifth in the second Corvette.

Jesse Krohn, who survived a big moment at the final corner early on, will start sixth in the #24 BMW M8, ahead of the sister #25 car of Alexander Sims.

Nick Tandy was last in class in the #911 Porsche, and had an early lap deleted for a track limits transgression at Turn 1.

#58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, GTD: Patrick Long wins GTD pole

Photo by: Richard Dole / LAT Images

Long snatches GTD pole just before red flag

In GT Daytona, Madison Snow set the early benchmark at 2m07.780s in the #48 Lamborghini Huracan, before Dominik Baumann’s #14 Lexus dipped under the 2m07s barrier on 2m06.850s. Patrick Long just slipped in a 2m06.593s in his #58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 to take P1 before a red flag for the #51 Ferrari 488 of Francesco Piovanetti plunging off at Canada Corner.

The session restarted with time for only one more flying lap, with neither Long nor Baumann bothering to rejoin. They retained the top two positions, ahead of Snow. Cooper MacNeil will start fourth in his #63 Ferrari, ahead of Ben Keating’s rebuilt #33 Mercedes.

“We left Lime Rock dejected, so we’re looking ahead,” said Long. “It’s so tight, but we were able to string together the best lap of the weekend just before the red flag. We completely changed out setup overnight.”

The #15 Lexus didn’t qualify due to an engine problem, and will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

Pos	#	Driver	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	85	Simon Trummer Robert Alon	P	ORECA LMP2	1'51.933
2	7	Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor	P	Acura DPi	1'52.140	0.207
3	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun	P	ORECA LMP2	1'52.340	0.407
4	10	Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande	P	Cadillac DPi	1'52.430	0.497
5	6	Juan Pablo Montoya Dane Cameron	P	Acura DPi	1'52.780	0.847
6	77	Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez	P	Mazda DPi	1'52.813	0.880
7	5	Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa	P	Cadillac DPi	1'52.867	0.934
8	55	Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	P	Mazda DPi	1'53.161	1.228
9	31	Eric Curran Felipe Nasr	P	Cadillac DPi	1'53.257	1.324
10	99	Mikhail Goikhberg Stephen Simpson	P	ORECA LMP2	1'53.435	1.502
11	52	Gustavo Yacaman Sebastian Saavedra	P	Ligier LMP2	1'53.545	1.612
12	2	Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel	P	Nissan DPi	1'53.626	1.693
13	22	Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek	P	Nissan DPi	1'54.092	2.159
14	66	Joey Hand Dirk Muller	GTLM	Ford GT	2'02.479	10.546
15	67	Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook	GTLM	Ford GT	2'02.650	10.717
16	3	Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	2'02.746	10.813
17	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	2'03.114	11.181
18	4	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	2'03.170	11.237
19	24	John Edwards Jesse Krohn	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	2'03.331	11.398
20	25	Connor de Phillippi Alexander Sims	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	2'03.645	11.712
21	911	Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	2'03.673	11.740
22	58	Patrick Long Christina Nielsen	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	2'06.593	14.660
23	14	Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	2'06.850	14.917
24	48	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	2'07.226	15.293
25	63	Alessandro Pier Guidi Cooper MacNeil	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	2'07.317	15.384
26	33	Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	2'07.561	15.628
27	73	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	2'07.944	16.011
28	86	Alvaro Parente Katherine Legge	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	2'08.280	16.347
29	96	Markus Palttala Robby Foley	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	2'08.402	16.469
30	44	Andy Lally John Potter	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	2'08.947	17.014
31	93	Justin Marks Lawson Aschenbach	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	2'12.272	20.339