CORE autosport’s Colin Braun won the pole Saturday afternoon (June 30) for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen in a nail-biting qualifying session. Braun’s lap was the quickest of the entire weekend at an average speed of 132.539 mph.
“I’m excited to be on the pole,” Braun said after the session. “It’s a testament to the work back at the shop and the fact that we came here and tested. For us, with [the ORECA 07], we were able to get a better understanding of how the ORECA chassis needs to work. We haven’t been able to test at any of the other tracks other than Daytona and Sebring. Those [races] have been the other two good results for us so far.”
Braun won the pole by a mere six-thousandths of a second over United Autosports’ Paul Di Resta. The former Formula 1 racer was on provisional pole early in the session before Braun was able to overtake him.
Acura Team Penske’s Ricky Taylor will start third, followed by teammate Dane Cameron. JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Simon Trummer will start fifth.
Tequila Patron ESM’s Pipo Derani qualified sixth in his Nissan DPi. However, he pulled off at Turn 7 midway through the session. The issue did not cause a red flag.
The Cadillacs, normally quite dominant, were not on par Saturday. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Renger van der Zande qualified the best of them, but he was only eighth. Points leader Filipe Albuquerque will start 13th.
In GT Le Mans, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing IMSA’s Richard Westbrook completed a sweep of free practice and qualifying by winning the pole in his Ford GT. Westbrook claimed the pole with a lap of 120.062 mph.
Westbrook’s lap was one-eighth of a second faster than teammate Joey Hand. Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia turned in a lap right at the end of the session to put the No. 3 Corvette third in class. Porsche GT Team’s Earl Bamber will start fourth, followed by Patrick Pilet in the second Porsche.
The GT Daytona will be led to green by 3GT Racing’s Jack Hawksworth. The former INDYCAR racer turned a lap at an average speed of 117.130 mph, one-tenth of a second faster than Montaplast by Land-Motorsport’s Christopher Mies. Kyle Marcelli will start third in the second Lexus, followed by Meyer Shank Racing’s Àlvaro Parente and Lawson Aschenbach.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SAHLEN’S SIX HOURS AT THE GLEN QUALIFYING RESULTS
Prior to the race, teams will have a 20-minute warm-up session at 8 a.m. EDT Sunday morning. The race is scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m. and will be aired live on FOX Sports 1.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.