Course records fell in nearly every class during Qualifying for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at the freshly-resurfaced Road America circuit. After setting the benchmark time in Practice 2 on Friday afternoon, Pipo Derani backed up that rapid pace by putting the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R on the pole.
It was a picture-perfect day in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – with partly cloudy skies, ambient temperatures just over 22°C, perfect weather for new records to be set in this afternoon’s set of time trials.
Derani and Alexander Sims entered this race weekend leading the GTP Drivers’ Championship by a mere ten points, but Derani was able to extend that lead ever so slightly with an impressive pole run. He set provisional pole with a lap of 1:48.039, then improved on that already-impressive time on his next lap with a final run of 1:47.730 – at an average speed of over 135 miles per hour.
It was two-tenths of a second quicker than Derani’s best time set in Practice 2 yesterday, and with the caveats of the resurfaced track and that DPi and LMDh (GTP) have fundamental differences between them, it was almost a full second quicker than the final DPi course record of 1:48.715, set by Dane Cameron in 2019 – a mark surpassed by the top seven qualifiers in the GTP class.
This was also Derani’s second pole of 2023, his first since the Sebring 12 Hours, and the ninth of his IMSA career.
“I knew it was tight from practice. I knew everything had to be nailed for qualifying to start out front. I was hoping the gap was bigger than that. But a pole is a pole no matter how big. I’m really happy with that,” Derani said after his pole run.
“It’s been a very good weekend so far, but like I’ve said before it doesn’t mean anything because it’s a long race. Obviously, you can control the race a bit better, but we know in IMSA, anything can happen with the yellows. It’s a good way to start the weekend, with a few points that could help at the end of the championship. I’m really happy and really glad.”
Porsche’s fleet of 963s didn’t look that promising after Practice, but a sensational lap from Matt Campbell in the #7 Penske Porsche got he and Felipe Nasr on the front row for tomorrow morning’s two-hour and 40-minute race. Campbell was just 68 milliseconds behind Derani with a time of 1:47.798, and none of the other eight GTP cars broke the one-minute, 48-second barrier.
Sébastien Bourdais, the pace setter in Practice 1 yesterday morning, qualified third in the gold #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R.
Filipe Albuquerque was fourth-fastest aboard the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, he and Ricky Taylor are still searching for their first win of 2023.
Connor de Phillippi, currently second in the GTD standings, was fifth-fastest in the #25 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8, followed by Colin Braun in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, fresh off a win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park a few short weeks ago.
Nick Tandy qualified seventh in the #6 Penske Porsche, with Philipp Eng in the #24 BMW in eighth. Mike Rockenfeller was ninth in the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche, and in its IMSA debut, the #59 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni qualified tenth, 1.730 seconds off the pole – a respectable outing in its first race weekend stateside.
The Pro-Am prototype classes were also lightning-quick on the resurfaced Road America. George Kurtz won the LMP2 pole position aboard the #04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca LMP2 07, giving him and co-driver Ben Hanley a few precious points to extend their lead in their own hotly-contested battle for the championship.
Kurtz’s pace was devastating from the moment he began his very first time attack lap. A string of four flying laps for Kurtz culminated with a pole lap of 1:53.621, for his second pole of the season.
Given that the LMP2 cars in IMSA have been significantly detuned in recent years, Kurtz getting less than two seconds away from the outright course record of 1:52.037 was an outstanding achievement!
The #04 CrowdStrike/APR Oreca qualified over half a second quicker than the next-best LMP2 car, the Tower Motorsports #8, driven by 11th-hour substitution Rodrigo Sales. The Mexican-American driver filled in admirably for the injured John Farano to qualify second, followed by championship contenders Steven Thomas in the TDS Racing #11, Ben Keating in the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports #52, and Dwight Merriman in the Era Motorsport #18.
Sean Creech Motorsport has had its share of rotten luck in LMP3 – particularly at Daytona where dominant pace went to waste due to mechanical troubles. Not this time, however, as Nico Pino blitzed the field to take his second pole of 2023 in the #33 Ligier JS P320.
Filling in for SCM’s regular driver Lance Willsey, Pino’s first lap easily smashed the old record of Peugeot protegé Malthe Jakobsen set last year. To put an exclamation point on it, Pino went quicker, winning the pole with a 1:57.930, with nearly a one-second margin to the field. It was an improvement of a second and a half over the previous course record in LMP3.
Bijoy Garg, accompanied by last-minute replacement Colin Noble (who takes the place of IndyCar-bound Linus Lundqvist), was second-quickest in the #29 Jr III Racing Ligier. LMP3 points leader Gar Robinson was third-fastest in the blue and orange #74 Riley Ligier, accompanied by Josh Burdon in place of Felipe Fraga.
The best of the Duquiene D08s was the golden yellow #13 AWA Duquiene of Orey Fidani in fourth.
Following up on The Heart of Racing Team’s double victory at Lime Rock Park, it was the #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas that won the GTD Pro pole position, shattering the old GTD outright course record by over two seconds.
Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD set the early benchmark with a lap time of 2:03.543, but Riberas was able to improve on that by nearly two-tenths in a hotly-contested battle for the top spot in qualifying. On the second set of flying laps, Taylor retook provisional pole, before it was passed back to championship leader Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
And then, seconds later, Riberas broke another threshold, going to the top with a time of 2:02.918 that wouldn’t be surpassed. Riberas’ record run was 2.332 seconds quicker than the previous GTD course record at Road America, a 2:05.250 set by Ben Keating in 2019.
Daniel Juncadella was the only other driver to break the two-minute, three-second threshold, setting a 2:02.975 aboard the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Juncadella and Jules Gounon will start on the outside front row of the combined GTD grid. Taylor improved to a 2:03.143 to give the #3 Corvette third place.
Taylor and Antonio Garcia will start next to the GTD pole-winning #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, which collected 35 precious points in their bid for the GTD Championship after a tough result in Lime Rock.
Incredibly, it’s the first pole of 2023 for the #1 BMW as well. Snow’s best time of 2:03.291 was the fourth-fastest of all GTD cars, ahead of the GTD Pro #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat.
Second place in GTD and sixth overall was a great surprise: Bronze driver Brendan Iribe set a 2:03.382 aboard the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, back stateside after repairs necessitated by Iribe’s heavy shunt at Lime Rock – so he also seeks his own redemption after a few weeks off.
Klaus Bachler in the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R qualified seventh overall, fifth in GTD Pro, in a run where he didn’t have enough fuel to return to the pits at the end. Bachler was able to pull off at turn five and did not cause a red flag which would strip them of their times.
Further down the rest of the GTD order, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo was third in class, followed by the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes of Mike Skeen, the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Roman de Angelis, and the #78 Forte Racing by USRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Misha Goikhberg.
Skeen and Goikhberg’s results were notable after both drivers crashed at the Kink (turn 11) in practice yesterday. Skeen crashed in Practice 2 after Mikaël Grenier set the fastest time, and Team Korthoff Motorsports repaired the car for a run in qualifying. Forte Racing had to switch to a backup car after Goikhberg’s accident in Practice 1.
Sunday’s race begins at 10:10 AM CST (local time).
Images courtesy of IMSA
