Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist completed a pre-race sweep for the No. 60 Acura Saturday afternoon (Sept. 20). He turned in a lap at 117.749 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks.
“I feel at home in these cars,” Blomqvist said after the session. “The team has done a fantastic job in the last couple events actually, getting more and more out of our package. Learning more, and today I was just kind of able to do the job.”
Blomqvist ended up .041 seconds ahead of Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Louis Deletraz will start third, followed by teammate Ricky Taylor. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Matt Campbell.
BMW M Team RLL’s Sheldon van der Linde was the first driver to set time. As a result, he led much of the first half of the session. However, things changed once the tires came up to temperature.
Campbell moved to the top, then van der Linde’s teammate Dries Vanthoor. JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Nico Mueller was also right up there in the mix.
Once everyone was up to speed, it was extremely close between the manufacturers. BMW was quick early, then Porsche, Acura and Cadillac.
Deletraz was the first driver to get down into the 74-second bracket in his Cadillac. That was quickly beaten by Blomqvist, who had been fastest in both practice sessions.
The remaining five minutes of the session saw the other 11 teams attempt to beat Blomqvist’s time. None of them were able to do so, but they were all able to improve. As a result, the entire GTP class was separated by .997 seconds.
The LMP2 session got off to an inauspicious start when Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Chris Cumming spun and got stuck in the gravel in turn 3 on his first lap on the clock. That brought out the red flag and cost Cumming his best two laps.
As a result, drivers didn’t have all that much time to put down a quick time. Luis Perez Companc put up the first representative time with five minutes to go in the session. He then spun out less than a lap later when Era Motorsport’s Tobias Lutke spun in turn 13 and forced him into the grass.
AO Racing’s PJ Hyett was able to take the provisional pole away from Perez Companc a short time later. That lap was then usurped by United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg.
With 100 seconds to go, Goldburg’s teammate Nick Boulle set a lap at 112.448 mph to move to the top of the pylon. A lap later, Boulle improved to a lap at 112.792 mph to win the class pole.
Boulle won the pole by .376 seconds over Goldburg. Hyett will start third, then Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke and TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas.
Thomas’ best lap would have been good enough for second in class. However, he lost his best lap due to his teammate Mikkel Jensen causing an incident in Practice No. 2 Saturday morning.
In GTD, The Heart of Racing’s Casper Stevenson took over the class lead a little more than six minutes into the session. He then bettered his time to a lap at 105.676 mph. That lap held up to take the class pole.
Stevenson won the pole by .194 seconds over AF Corse’s Lilou Wadoux, who is fresh off of a LMGT3 class victory at Silverstone in last weekend’s European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Silverstone. Lin Hodenius, who is making his IMSA debut for Lone Star Racing, will start third, then Winward Racing’s Russell Ward. Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco was fifth.
In GTD Pro, the top drivers were unable to beat Stevenson’s time from the GTD session. Despite that, Paul Miller Racing’s Dan Harper won the class pole with a lap at 105.459 mph, .171 seconds slower than Stevenson.
Harper’s lap was .186 seconds faster than Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Christopher Mies. 75 Express’ Mikael Grenier will start third in class, then Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Alexander Sims. Pfaff Motorsports’ Andrea Caldarelli was fifth in his Lamborghini.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks Qualifying Results
The TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks is scheduled to go green at 11:40 p.m. ET Sunday morning. Coverage will begin at 11:35 a.m. ET on Peacock. Race coverage will be joined in progress on NBC at 3 p.m. ET.
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.