It was a session of “firsts” for Alex Brundle.
In his first visit to Watkins Glen International, he won his first career TOTAL Pole Award, and the first for OAK Racing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. This weekend also marks the first time an LM P2 car will race at Watkins Glen.
Brundle put his #42 Morgan/Nissan on top of the charts halfway through the session with a lap of 1 minute, 37.902 (125.023 mph) and never looked back. He, and co-drivers Gustavo Yacaman and Ho-Pin Tung, will attempt to earn the team’s first win of the season in tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The race is the third round of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.
“I didn’t get a chance to go to the test [at Watkins Glen in May]; I just set about it,” Brundle said. “But we worked well as a team. Gustavo [Yacaman] had been here previously, which helped. He was here and was able to share some knowledge about the track.
“The first time we went out on the circuit we immediately divided the knowledge back to the other two. There has been no infighting and driver bickering at all. Everyone is working toward the same goal and that has been very critical to learning a place very quickly.”
Christian Fittipaldi, who paced both of the day’s practices, qualified second in his #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Fittipaldi currently leads the Patrón Endurance Cup standings along with Action Express Racing teammates Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais, although Bourdais will relinquish a share of the lead by not driving this weekend.
Fittipaldi and full-time co-driver Barbosa are joined by standby driver Burt Frisselle for the third round of four in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.
Barbosa is chasing a record-tying third straight win for Action Express in the prestigious six-hour race at Watkins Glen. He won with Fittipaldi last year and Darren Law in 2012. Current record holder Scott Pruett qualified his #01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley fourth.
He has four career wins in this event, including back-to-back-to-back triumphs with teammate Memo Rojas from 2008-2010.
Michael Valiante qualified third in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP he shares with co-driver Richard Westbrook.
A back-and-forth qualifying session ended with Colin Braun earning his second Prototype Challenge (PC) TOTAL Pole Award of the season. Braun held off Tom Kimber-Smith and Renger van der Zande with a lap of 1:40.562 (121.716 mph) after the three swapped the top spot several times during the 15-minute qualifying session.
Braun also won the pole in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, a race he went on to win with co-drivers Jon Bennett, James Gue and Mark Wilkins. Braun and Bennett, the current PC points leaders, have won three of the class’ four races in their #54 CORE autosport ORECA FLM09.
“We came here and tested three or four weeks ago and it really put us in a good spot coming back to the racetrack for the second time,” Braun said. “We were able to unload the car from the truck with a reasonable balance and a good start. We’ve keep working at it and get better and better.”BMW Team RLL already has four podiums in four TUDOR United SportsCar Championship races this season, but the team will start Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from its best position yet.
Andy Priaulx gave BMW its first GT Le Mans (GTLM) pole in TUDOR Championship competition Saturday at Watkins Glen International, driving the #55 BMW Z4 GTE to a lap of 1 minute, 44.084 seconds (117.597 mph). Priaulx will be joined by co-driver Bill Auberlen in the six-hour event.
“The pole is nice and it’s always nice for the ego, but we’ve got to maintain our position in the championship,” said Priaulx who earned his first TUDOR Championship pole. “I was delighted to get the chance to qualify today; in all fairness Bill [Auberlen] has been quick and you know we’ve got a great car this weekend. Bill has been a front-runner here a long, long time, so I’ve just got to work on bringing Bill a clean car.”
A potential BMW front-row sweep was spoiled by Jan Magnussen in the closing minutes of the 15-minute session. Magnussen drove the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R he shares with Antonio Garcia to second with one minute, 30 seconds remaining. That lap of 1:44.376 (117.268 mph) was just 0.001 seconds ahead of Dirk Mueller’s lap of 1:44.377 (117.267 mph) in the #56 BMW Z4 GTE he co-drives with John Edwards.
Four manufacturers made up the top five positions with Michael Christensen qualifying fourth in the #912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR at 1:44.482 (117.149 mph). Christensen will be joined Sunday by full-time co-driver Patrick Long and Patrón Endurance Cup driver Patrick Pilet.
Jonathan Bomarito qualified fifth in the #93 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R at 1:44.606 (117.010 mph). He shares the Viper with co-drivers Kuno Wittmer and Marc Goossens.
Four different manufacturers made up the top four positions in GT Daytona (GTD) qualifying, but it was Leh Keen’s #22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America that ended the 15-minute qualifying session with the Total Pole Award.
Keen’s lap of 1 minute, 48.831 seconds (112.468 mph) was good enough to earn the first pole for the Porsche 911 GT America in TUDOR Championship GTD competition, just 0.192 seconds ahead of the #94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 driven by Dane Cameron.
It was Keen’s 11th career pole in North American professional sports car competition.
“It’s a great car and we’re happy to be in it with Alex Job Racing,” said Keen, who will be joined by full-time teammate Cooper MacNeil and Philipp Frommenwiler. “Yesterday we came off the truck just perfect. We really haven’t done a lot to the car. It’s been great, so we’re just going to keep on keepin’ on.”
Cameron jumped to second with a lap of 1:49.023 (112.270 mph) with four minutes remaining in the session. The Sebring pole winner will be joined by Markus Palttala this weekend.
Jeroen Bleekemolen qualified third in the #33 Viper he shares with co-driver Ben Keating with a lap of 1:49.119 (112.171 mph). Fourth went to the #45 Flying Lizards Audi R8 LMS driven by Spencer Pumpelly and co-driver Nelson Canache Jr at 1:49.253 (112.034 mph).
Rounding out the top-five was Andy Lally in the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America he shares with full-time co-driver John Potter and Sebastian Asch, 1:49.371 (111.913 mph).
Qualifying Results
1 1 42 P Yacaman/Brundle/Tung 1:37.902 Nissan Morgan
2 2 5 P Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bu.Frisselle 1:38.560 Corvette DP
3 3 90 P Westbrook/Valiante 1:38.692 Corvette DP
4 4 01 P Pruett/Rojas/Karam 1:38.738 Ford EcoBoost/Riley
5 5 1 P Sharp/Dalziel 1:39.005 123.630 HPD ARX-03b
6 6 10 P R.Taylor/J.Taylor/Angelelli 1:39.055 Corvette DP
7 7 2 P Brown/van Overbeek/Lazzaro 1:39.143 HPD ARX-03b
8 8 9 P Br.Frisselle/Bu.Frisselle/Fogarty 1:39.454 Corvette DP
9 9 60 P Pew/Negri Jr. 1:40.128 Ford EcoBoost/Riley
10 10 0 P Legge/Chaves 1:40.538 DeltaWing DWC13
11 1 54 PC Bennett/Braun/Gue 1:40.562 ORECA FLM09
12 2 25 PC Lux/Rayhall/Kimber-Smith 1:40.823 ORECA FLM09
13 3 8 PC Schultis/van der Zande 1:40.955 ORECA FLM09
14 4 7 PC Fuentes/Jo.Martin 1:41.041 ORECA FLM09
15 11 31 P Curran/Said/Cosmo 1:41.341 Corvette DP
16 5 52 PC Montecalvo/Jeannette 1:41.509 ORECA FLM09
17 6 38 PC Ostella/Hedlund 1:41.897 ORECA FLM09
18 7 09 PC Ende/Junqueira/Lewis 1:42.076 ORECA FLM09
19 8 88 PC Bielefeld/Plowman/D.Cheng 1:42.268 ORECA FLM09
20 12 07 P Joel.Miller/Nunez/Vautier 1:43.788 Mazda Prototype
21 1 55 GTLM Auberlen/Priaulx 1:44.084 BMW Z4 GTE
22 2 3 GTLM Magnussen/Garcia 1:44.376 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
23 3 56 GTLM Müller/J.Edwards 1:44.377 BMW Z4 GTE
24 4 912 GTLM P.Long/Christensen/Pilet 1:44.482 Porsche 911 RSR
25 5 93 GTLM Bomarito/Wittmer/Goossens 1:44.606 Dodge Viper SRT
26 6 91 GTLM D.Farnbacher/Goossens/Bomarito 1:44.755 Dodge Viper SRT
27 7 4 GTLM Gavin/Milner 1:44.783 116.813 6 6.881 6 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
28 8 62 GTLM Fisichella/Kaffer 1:44.950 116.627 6 7.048 8 Ferrari F458 Italia
29 9 17 GTLM Henzler/Sellers 1:45.134 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
30 10 911 GTLM Tandy/Lietz/Pilet 1:45.219 Porsche 911 RSR
31 13 70 P Tremblay/T.Long/Devlin 1:45.825 Mazda Prototype
32 1 22 GTD MacNeil/Keen/Frommenwiler 1:48.831 Porsche 911 GT America
33 2 94 GTD Cameron/Palttala 1:49.023 BMW Z4
34 3 33 GTD J.Bleekemolen/Keating 1:49.119 Dodge Viper SRT
35 4 45 GTD Canache Jr./Pumpelly/Sandberg 1:49.253 Audi R8 LMS
36 5 44 GTD Potter/Lally/Asch 1:49.371 Porsche 911 GT America
37 11 57 GTLM Krohn/Jonsson 1:49.588 Ferrari F458 GT
38 6 35 GTD Neiman/von Moltke/Pumpelly 1:49.783 Audi R8 LMS
39 7 555 GTD Sweedler/To.Bell 1:49.850 Ferrari 458 Italia
40 8 007 GTD Carter/Davison/Block 1:50.020 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
41 9 23 GTD James/M.Farnbacher 1:50.024 Porsche 911 GT America
42 10 63 GTD Balzan/Westphal/B.Davis 1:50.025 Ferrari 458 Italia
43 11 27 GTD Dempsey/A.Davis/Foster 1:50.050 Porsche 911 GT America
44 12 58 GTD Snow/Heylen 1:50.450 Porsche 911 GT America
45 13 81 GTD Barker/Faulkner/Avenatti 1:50.456 Porsche 911 GT America
46 14 46 GTD Espenlaub/Putman/Bonanomi 1:50.589 Audi R8 LMS
47 15 30 GTD Nielsen/Giermaziak 1:51.009 Porsche 911 GT America
48 16 48 GTD Haase/B.Miller 1:51.347 Audi R8 LMS
49 17 73 GTD Lindsey/Norman/van Lagen 1:51.502 Porsche 911 GT America
50 18 18 GTD Madsen/Ludwig/Calvert-Jones 1:53.744 Porsche 911 GT America
51 19 51 GTD Griffin/Rugolo/Gerber 1:56.625 Ferrari 458 Italia
52 9 08 PC Cumming/Tagliani/Mitchell No Time ORECA FLM09
53 10 85 PC C.Miller/Simpson/Drissi No Time ORECA FLM09
