Scott Pruett secured the overall pole for Saturday’s 2 hour, 40 minute IMSA race in the Ganassi Ford Riley while Patrick Pilet secured his first official pole in TUTOR competition in the No. 911 Porsche. In the Am classes, it was Dion von Moltke setting the pace in GTD with the Paul Miller Racing Audi, while PC saw a great battle between Chris Cumming (RSR) and Matt McMurry (JDC/Miller Motorsports) which went the Canadian’s way, earning Cumming his third pole in Tudor competition.
GTD: Really not much to say here. von Moltke dominated the session. Nobody was faster during the session and nobody really threatened his time during the session.
Ben Keating qualified his Viper second, over half a second back. This is a definite improvement for the team after suffering some tough races due to an excessively restrictive restrictor. Third in GTD was Bill Sweedler for Scuderia Corsa which keeps them in touch with the Miller team and also keeps their main combatant for the title, TRG one place behind them.
This was the 4th pole for von Moltke in TUTOR competition, but he was quick to downplay his importance in the accomplishment. “I can’t say its anything to do with me personally. This is a team effort that gets us the pole. Before every session we have meetings to talk about setup and tire pressures and everything. We knew I was going to have to attack on the first lap. It was going to have to be on the first lap or the second. We line up by points in the pit lane, so I knew on the out lap I had to past the other 2 cars to get some clean track and I think that made a difference. Really happy to get the pole here for the track position to start the race. A win here is critical for us to have any chance in the Championship. We really need a win. It’s hard to make up points with the way the points are structured. Ultimately you go into a race going for a win. As the race plays out, you look at the way the race is flowing. At mid race we decide are we pushing for the win or will we play it out for the points and go on to the next race.”
GTLM: Like GTD, GTLM was pretty much anti-climatic. Earl Bamber set the first fast time early in the session and the next time through Pilet topped him. Dirk Werner challenged but just fell short in his efforts, ending up .094 seconds back.
Last year here at COTA, Pilet recorded a time quick enough to earn the pole, but his time was disallowed because his Porsche was not equipped with a camera or a dummy camera. This year though, there was no doubt for the Frenchman.
While it appeared easy, it definitely wasn’t for Pilet, one of a handful of drivers who will be racing in both the TUDOR race and also in the WEC race. “Actually it was pretty difficult. The grip level was really low. I just tried to not push on the first lap and it was a good strategy because I did the second lap without any mistakes. The third lap was not as quick so I came in so I could keep my tires for tomorrow’s race. We are always looking step by step. First step was qualifying, and next will be the warm-up in the morning to compromise for the long race. Then it’s to have a good start and see what happens. I’m comfortable with Nick’s pace, he did some really good long runs. Hopefully we have enough for the victory.”
Concerning the double duty, Pilet stated, “it’s difficult. I will try to sleep well tonight. The day starts at 7am tomorrow and finish in the night. It’s a long day. It’s a lot less down force on the WEC car, it’s 1.5 to 2 seconds slower. The biggest is the race line. In IMSA it is quite free, in WEC it is very tight. I might have to get some rest between races and maybe a cold shower. But I hope to do really well tomorrow. “
LMPC: Matt McMurry drew first blood and fired back multiple times but he wasn’t able to keep a determined Chris Cumming from earning the class pole for RSR. The two drivers swapped fast times throughout the session until Chris put it out of reach with a 2:02.222.
For Chris, the key was not pushing too hard too early. “The grip was not very good. We saw that yesterday afternoon. I was determined not to be beaten by thousandths of a second, which I had been a few times this year. I was in extra qualifying mode and it paid off today.”
As far as with dealing with the heat, Chris added, “it’s a lot easier in the open cockpit car. I can’t imagine being in a closed cockpit car today, even with a cool suit. We get a nice airflow and with the drink bottle, if you sweat, you can stay pretty cool the whole time.”
Something that might be critical for the race is the drive time regulations for the class. “The rules state that it is one hour minimum for the silvers. I think we are 56 minutes on a full tank of fuel. It’s going to make it interesting. Some guys will be able to make it, some won’t. If there are yellows in the beginning we should be OK. The other cars with 2 silvers, they can do it on 2 stops, for us we have to do it in 3 if it’s all green.”
Prototype: It wasn’t easy for Scott Pruett, but this was a rewarding pole for him. To do it, he had to improve multiple times and fight off challenges from Ozz Negri, Christian Fittipaldi and Jordan Taylor to secure this pole position.
For Pruett and the Ganassi Ford team, it’s been a rough season. The team car won at Daytona, but other than that it has been a season without wins. They won here last season and if Scott has anything to do with it, they’ll be seeing victory circle again, one year later.
“This has been a tough season for us, without a doubt. We were close at Road America, but had a mechanical issue. It’s nice to unload and be fast. All the continual work the team has done overall, we’ve done updates. All those things together have put us first last race and first here. Hopefully we can get a repeat victory here tomorrow. The nice thing is we’re coming into this race just focusing on winning. The last few years we were working on a championship, so it was about not making mistakes, and going fast, and staying out of traffic. If you get second or third, it doesn’t matter, now we’re going for the victory.
Concerning the heat, Pruett stated, “I’ve never minded it that its hot. I just don’t. I sweat like crazy and I don’t have a problem at all. It was the same conditions this morning, but the best we could emulate, so we got as good of understanding as we could and have a good idea of the tire degradation and how the wear is going to be.”
As far as traffic and track conditions, Scott gave a thumbs up to a tire that he may become familiar with in the future. “The car’s been good. We’ve been able to get around where we needed. The hardest car to pass is the DeltaWing because of the straight-line speed. We adjusted for a qualifying setup and this morning we tried our race setup. Hopefully that will translate into tomorrow for a win. We got a lot more grip running on the old Michelin rubber than we thought before we got here. Usually you have a lot of issues following a Continental race where guys will go off and bring stuff onto the track, but the grip was really nice during this session today.”
Notes: The two PC cars involved in the accident this morning, cars 16 and 88 appear to have been scrubbed from the race. Both cars had tub damage that apparently could not be repaired in time for tomorrow’s race.
The 07 Mazda did make it on track for qualifying after skipping the morning session. This should give us 36 starters for the race, unless something happens during warm-ups.
Gary Horrocks
