With a new GTP qualifying lap record around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Tom Blomqvist took the pole position for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans on behalf of Acura Meyer Shank Racing.
Blomqvist and co-drivers Colin Braun and Scott Dixon will start up front in the blue #60 Acura ARX-06 after Blomqvist set a 1:09.628 on his second flying lap during the 15-minute GTP qualifying session. That beat the previous GTP course record, set by Cadillac Whelen’s Jack Aitken last year, by 0.011 seconds.
The #60 Acura of Blomqvist took the pole for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but was penalised after qualifying for a technical infringement, giving the pole to Aitken, who went on to win.
Aitken in the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R qualified second with a 1:09.827, putting him between the two Acura MSR cars, with the #93 ARX-06 of Nick Yelloly (1:09.908) qualifying third.
2024 GTP Champion Felipe Nasr qualified fourth in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 (1:10.241), with teammate and 2025 GTP championship leader Matt Campbell in the #6 Penske Porsche starting sixth.
In between, Ross Gunn put together a great run to qualify fifth in the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie.
Romain Grosjean (#63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63) qualified seventh in the Lamborghini SC63’s final race before a one-year minimum hiatus for the program.
Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac) qualified eighth, ahead of the two BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8s, led by the #24 of Dries Vanthoor in ninth.
Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke took his first IMSA LMP2 pole position after the #11 TDS Racing ORECA was penalised after post-qualifying technical inspection.
Thomas had initially taken pole position with a 1:13.157, but the #11 car will have to start at the back of the LMP2 grid after the car was found to have bodywork mass beyond the permitted homologated limit.
That promoted Clarke, who set a 1:13.397 in the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson, to pole position after a disrupted session.
George Kurtz went off and into the tyre barrier at turn five, bringing out a red flag with a little over five minutes left on the clock. He was able to drive his #04 Crowdstrike by APR car out of the barrier, but he went from sixth to the rear of the LMP2 field with Thomas via the loss of his two fastest laps.
Meanwhile, PJ Hyett in the #99 AO Racing ORECA will start second after his fastest lap was deducted for causing a red flag in Practice 2 when he spun at turn 10.
Hyett only dropped one position due to the penalty, and importantly, he qualified one position ahead of his championship rival, Daniel Goldburg, in the #22 United Autosports USA car.
Goldburg will start third, alongside teammate Nick Boulle (#2 United Autosports USA) in fourth, and Gar Robinson (#74 Riley) will start fifth for his last IMSA LMP2 race.
A last-ditch effort from Dan Harper in the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO led the Ulsterman to his second straight GTD PRO pole to close out the season.
Aaron Telitz in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 was denied his first career IMSA pole; he’d leapt to the top of the board with a 1:18.690, which stood as the top time until, with less than two minutes left, Harper used a new set of Michelin tires to his advantage, laying down a 1:18.672.
Harper improved to a 1:18.523 and secured the pole position, but not the fastest time in GTD PRO qualifying.
That belonged to title contender Albert Costa in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, who set a 1:18.430 in the closing seconds. But the #81 Ferrari owed a penalty from Practice 2 when its fuel pump failure was deemed the cause of an avoidable red flag, thus it lost its fastest lap.
Costa fell back to a 1:18.763 to qualify fourth, behind Telitz and the #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg in third.
Laurin Heinrich was fifth in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by Neil Verhagen (#1 Paul Miller BMW) and Sebastian Priaulx (#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3).
Championship leader Antonio García qualified eighth in the #3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R, four positions behind title rival Costa’s Ferrari.
Cetilar Racing’s #47 Ferrari 296 GT3 will start at the front of an all-Ferrari front row in GTD after Lorenzo Patrese scored his first career IMSA pole.
The second-generation Italian set a 1:18.316 – faster than the GTD PRO pole time of Harper – to put himself clear of the GTD field. He’ll start alongside countryman Riccardo Agostini, who qualified second in the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari (1:18.605).
Valentin Hasse-Clot qualified third in the #19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, breaking up what would have been a Ferrari 1-2-3; Lilou Wadoux went fourth-fastest in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari.
Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis qualified fifth in the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, only one position and six hundredths of a second ahead of his sole surviving championship rival, Casper Stevenson in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin in sixth.
Bob Akin Award rivals Brendon Iribe (#70 Inception Racing Ferrari) and Orey Fidani (#13 AWA Corvette) qualified 15th and 19th, respectively.
The 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans starts tomorrow at 12:10 PM ET (local time). Viewers in over 230 other countries can watch the race on the official IMSA YouTube channel and IMSA.TV.
US viewers can watch the first three hours of the race coverage on their local free-to-air NBC networks, and the entire race on Peacock.
Images © Jack Webster / cailysportscar.com
