TeamTGM’s Owen Trinkler overcame hot and humid conditions Friday (July 19) and less than four wheels on the ground to win the overall pole for Saturday’s Lime Rock Park 120. Trinkler’s lap at 98.601 mph was more than a second quicker than last year’s pole, but three-tenths of a second slower than the best lap in practice.
Trinkler’s lap was nine-hundredths of a second quicker than the Audi of CarBahn Motorsports’ Tyler McQuarrie. Andrew Davis, who was fastest overall in practice in his Chevrolet was third. Turner Motorsport’s Bill Auberlen was fourth in his BMW M4 GT4, while Motorsports In Action’s Jesse Lazare was fifth in his Mc:aren.
Murillo Racing’s Jeff Mosing broke the streak of different manufacturers by qualifying his Mercedes in sixth. KohR Motorsports’ Nate Stacy will start seventh, followed by Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport’s Bryce Ward. Automatic Racing’s Rob Ecklin Jr. and BimmerWorld Racing’s James Clay rounded out the top 10.
The second Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport Mercedes shared by Indy Dontje and Russell Ward did not participate in the qualifying session. The team has put the cover on the No. 33. While work was continuing on the car, it’s not looking good for the Mobil 1 Mercedes to return to the track this weekend.
TCR qualifying showed that Saturday’s race is likely to be rather topsy-turvy. Normally, the secondary class is supposed to be just that. Secondary. That might not be the case this weekend.
Bryan Herta Autosport’s Michael Lewis won the class pole with a lap at 98.471 mph. This lap was good enough for second overall, just seven-hundredths of a second off the overall pole. Note that there was no moisture on the track. This was in the dry.
Lewis’ lap was four-tenths of a second faster than the rather surprising Alexandre Papadopulos in the No. 3 Alfa Romeo for KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering. Atlanta Speedwerks’ Brian Henderson will start his Honda third in class, followed by the similar entries of LA Honda World Racing’s Shelby Blackstock and HART’s Chad Gilsinger.
IMSA MICHELIN PILOT CHALLENGE LIME ROCK PARK 120 QUALIFYING RESULTS
While it would be interesting to see the Hyundai Veloster N TCR on the front row of the grid Saturday, that will not happen. IMSA will split the grid by class so that all the Grand Sport teams will start ahead of the TCR teams. That said, it should be a very competitive race. The Lime Rock Park 120 is scheduled to go green at 11:10 a.m. Saturday morning. The race will be streamed live at IMSA.com and FansChoice.tv.
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.