Blomqvist sets qualifying record, takes pole at IMSA Petit Le Mans
- Natalie Johnston
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
Tom Blomqvist dominated qualifying on Friday to take pole and set a new qualifying record at Road Atlanta in his No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura at IMSA Petit Le Mans. This is the team's second consecutive pole position, following their first-place start at Indianapolis last time out. The No. 11 TDS Racing car took pole in LMP2, driven by Steven Thomas. Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW took pole in GTD PRO. In GTD, the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari took their maiden pole position.
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship was set to start qualifying at 3:15 pm local time.
In FP1 and FP2 on Thursday, Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac led the timing sheets, but it was the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie that logged the fastest time in the nighttime FP3 session.
GTD
The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus was the first to set a benchmark time after leading the field out of the pits. The Vasser Sullivan No. 12 and No. 14 headed the GT cars in FP3 night practice on Thursday.
The No. 45 Wayne Taylor Lamborghini shot up to the top of the order with a 1:26.688. The chromatic Wayne Taylor car and the No. 57 Winward Racing are sporting some pink accents on their liveries this weekend, likely in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette held the lead with a more indicative 1:20.887 lap time. The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW was the first to get into the 1:19s. The BMWs received a big BoP weight addition for this weekend, but they may well be quick nevertheless.
With just over seven minutes remaining, the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari sat in the top spot, followed by the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari in second place. The Ferraris look quite fast yet again this weekend. Lorenzo Patrese pulled out three tenths to separate his No. 47 from the Triarsi.
The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes put in a lap time of 1:12.831, good enough for fourth position, and looked to improve the next lap but could not. Lilou Wadoux in the No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari bested the championship leader to go up into fourth. After a gutting DNF, the Af Corse team will be hoping for some better luck this weekend.
As the minutes wound down, nobody had an answer to Lorenzo Patrese in the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari’s blistering lap as they took pole at Petit Le Mans. The No. 021 Triarsi Competizione ended up with a P2 finish, followed by the No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin in P3.
GTD PRO
Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette set the fastest of the benchmark times at the start of the GTD PRO session.
The two GTD Corvettes had a tricky session, the No. 36 and the No. 13 finishing in the bottom three, so we’ll see what kind of pace the Corvettes can find here.
The spooky-liveried No. 77 AO Racing “Rexy” Porsche put in a 1:19.012 for a more indicative leading time, before being usurped by Nicky Catsburg in the other No. 4 Pratt Miller Corvette.
With under nine minutes remaining, the No. 9 Pfaff Lamborghini and the No. 64 and 65 Ford Multimatic Mustangs still had yet to set a competitive time, with the Pfaff car spending an extended amount of time in the pits.
Aaron Telitz went fastest in his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, just 0.023 ahead of the No. 4 Corvette with six minutes remaining.
Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW was the top BMW in fourth position, likely grappling with the tough BoP weight addition. The Paul Miller cars have been excellent in the endurance format this season, holding the top two places in the Michelin Endurance Cup standings ahead of the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche.
Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW found some time and went up into third place ahead of the No. 77 before dropping down to P5. The sister car then went to the top of the timing sheets, Dan Harper in the No. 48, to provisional pole with less than a minute remaining.
Albert Costa in the No. 81 Dragonspeed snatched P1 away, but his time would be deleted due to bringing out a caution in practice.
Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW took pole for the second event in a row after piecing together a couple of rapid times after a slow start to the session. The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, driven by Aaron Telitz, took P2, followed by Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Pratt Miller Corvette.
LMP2
Dan Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosport USA car took an early lead, driving a 1:18 straight out of the gate. Not long after, the LMP2s began to really stretch their legs, and the grid soon started putting in times in the low 1:13s.
PJ Hyett, in his skeleton “Spike” No. 99 AO Racing car, put in a 1:13.393 with just over nine minutes remaining. He aimed to set a strong starting position so he and the AO team could secure the Jim Trueman award on Saturday.
The No. 11 TDS Racing put in a 1:13.157 with Steven Thomas at the wheel. The TDS team took the victory at Indianapolis last time out, a great showing for Thomas and young Pro driver Hunter McElrea in particular.
George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike brought out the red flag with just over five minutes remaining. He took the inside of turn five too early and headed straight into the barrier nose-first. The Crowdstrike only sustained damage to the nose of the car, so not a devastating crash for the team.
The green flag was brought out not long after since the No. 04 got going shortly after its impact. The top three remained the same until the checkered flag was waved.
The No. 88 Af Corse spun in turn five following the checkered flag, but got back on track again; the Bronze LMP2 drivers had some issues keeping it on the road in that specific chicane.
Steven Thomas in the No. 11 TDS Racing took pole from Jeremy Clarke in the No. 43 Inter Europol –who put in a great final lap to jump into P2. Championship leader PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing car secured P3 ahead of their championship and Bob Akin award rival, Dan Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosport.
With an extra handful of qualifying points, PJ Hyett extends his lead for the Trueman award to 87 points.
GTP
The championship-leading No. 6 Porsche Penske led the GTP field out of the pits for the final qualifying session of the day. Almost the entire grid scrubbed a set of tyres before heading back out on track.
The No. 6 Porsche was the first to set a somewhat indicative time, with a 1:13.081, just over nine minutes remaining. The grid sacrificed a significant portion of their qualifying session to prepare tyres for the race, as qualifying for a 10-hour endurance race is never the be-all and end-all.
Tom Blomqvist set a staggering 1:09.858 in his No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura, yet again proving how great he is in one-lap pace. Jack Aitken joined him in the 1:09s, just 0.199 back of the Acura in his No. 31 Whelen Cadillac.
Nick Yelloly in his No. 93 Meyer Shank Acura sat in P3 with six minutes remaining, followed by the No. 6 of Matt Campbell.
If first place wasn’t good enough for him, Tom Blomqvist set a new qualifying record with a 1:09.628 in his Acura. He was two-tenths of a second faster than anyone else in sector one, a dominant showing going into the final three minutes of the session. The No. 60 packed it into the pits after that lap.
The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL had a moment off track as it went straight off a chicane. Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Valkyrie went fifth fastest in the late stages, with a fastest third sector. The new Aston Martin crew has made some serious improvements this weekend so far.
It was the Tom Blomqvist show in the GTP qualifying session, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura on pole with a 1:09.628. Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac took P2, followed by Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Acura.
