Tom Blomqvist put Acura Meyer Shank Racing on pole in a weather-impacted qualifying round in the Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Driving the team’s #60 Acura ARX-06, Blomqvist delivered a flying lap of 1m14.674s to take the top spot on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. It marks Blomqvist’s seventh career pole, and the 25th pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Meyer Shank Racing.
“It was a tricky session,” said Blomqvist, who co-drives the entry with Colin Braun. “It’s a bit of who knows what’s going to happen with the weather, but yeah, we knew we had car pace. Drivers are never happy, right? So, it wasn’t like a super smooth practice session … The car was tricky to drive. My car really only had one lap in it. Just kind of had to hope and pray sort of thing that it would stick. The car’s been giving me confidence in key areas around here, which just unlocks lap times. Thanks to the guys, they’ve been working really, really hard. Obviously, it’s a great way coming towards our last couple of races with the program.”
Championship leader Jack Aitken (Whelen Cadillac) produced a late effort to qualify second, but was 0.301s behind Blomqvist’s pace-setting time.
GTP
Julien Andlauer (Porsche Penske Motorsport) held the early benchmark with a 1m15.235s in the #7 Porsche 963. With four minutes remaining, Aitken (Whelen Cadillac) got close with a 1m15.262s in the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R to slot second.
Blomqvist then went fastest, putting down the weekend’s first sub-1m15s lap with a 1m14.674s in the #60 Acura ARX-06 with under three minutes to go. He knocked off BMW M Team WR’s Dries Vanthoor, who, moments before, delivered a 1m15.073s lap in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8.
In the final seconds, Aitken remained out on track for a last-gasp effort, and was able to jump up to second with a 1m14.975s fast lap.
LMP2
It took until roughly halfway through the 15-minute session for tires to get warmed up in the LMP2 class. With roughly six minutes to go, the competitive times began to come in with PJ Hyett (AO Racing) establishing the early mark at 1m17.796s.
Moments later, Jon Farano (Tower Motorsports) clipped the curbing and went off and into the tire barrier in Turn 6. He was able to continue on, keeping the session under green flag.
Daniel Goldburg (United Autosports USA) then went to the top with a 1m17.713s lap, but was dethroned as Jeremy Clarke (Inter Europol Competition) fought back with a 1m17.555s flyer. Goldburg attempted to fight back, but only managed a 1m17.600s lap with roughly a minute to go.
Hyett’s chances of jumping up from third fell off due to traffic and was left in third with a 1m17.770s lap. In the end, Clarke’s quickest lap was good enough to hold on to the class pole. Goldburg’s fastest qualifying lap was deleted as a penalty for an earlier practice incident
GTD Pro & GTD
Following a weather delay due to lightning, qualifying sessions for both GTD Pro and GTD classes were canceled.
The grids for both classes were set on team points, with the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi on pole in GTD Pro, followed by Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports.
In GTD, the Winward Racing duo of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward in the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 will start on pole. Heart of Racing’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello and Tom Gamble will roll off second.
Qualifying
All Stats
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