Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais kept up the tear that he has been on in qualifying Friday (June 3) by winning the pole for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at The Raceway of Belle Isle with a lap at 107.336 mph. The lap, which is a new track record for IMSA at Belle Isle, is Bourdais’s fourth of the year.
The DPi qualifying session was not really dissimilar to other recent qualifying sessions. Action Express Racing was quick early on, this time with debutant Olivier Pla in the car instead of Pipo Derani. Then, Ricky Taylor put his Acura at the front of the field.
Then, with a couple of minutes to go, Bourdais put himself on top. Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist challenged late, but Bourdais set the track record on his final lap of the session.
Bourdais’ lap was .110 seconds quicker than Blomqvist. Taylor will start third, followed by Alex Lynn in the second Ganassi Cadillac. Pla will start fifth.
In GTD, VasserSullivan’s Kyle Kirkwood is a pretty busy man this weekend. In addition to filling in at VasserSullivan, he also has his full-time commitment to AJ Foyt Enterprises in the NTT IndyCar Series.
Kirkwood was able to continue his excellent day by putting VasserSullivan’s No. 17 Lexus on the GTD pole with a lap at 94.954 mph. This comes after topping the class in Practice No. 2.
Kirkwood’s lap was .118 seconds faster than The Heart of Racing’s Roman DeAngelis. The BMW of Paul Miller Racing’s Madison Snow will start third in class, then Kirkwood’s teammate Frankie Montecalvo. Rick Ware Racing’s Aidan Read will start the sole Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 in fifth.
IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP CHEVROLET SPORTS CAR CLASSIC STARTING GRID
The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic is scheduled to go green at 3:10 p.m. ET Saturday. The race will air live on USA starting at 3 p.m.
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.
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