BRASELTON, Geo. — Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist won the pole Friday afternoon (Oct. 2) for the 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans with a lap at 131.185 mph. It is Blomqvist’s second straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole and second straight Petit Le Mans pole (third overall).
“It’s always so rewarding when you get the pole position, a little win as well for the boys,” Blomqvist said after the session. “Everyone’s happy. I love that. And then it’s the last race for us, so you know, these little things are super special for everyone. Enjoy these moments. It’s been a ride, for sure.”
Blomqvist won the pole by .222 seconds over teammate Nick Yelloly. BMW M Team WRT’s Sheldon van der Linde will start third, followed by Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Laurens Vanthoor was fifth.
With Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Laurin Heinrich qualifying in seventh, Aitken’s point lead has increased by four to 151. As a result, Aitken will win the GTP championship by starting the race, a scenario that Frontstretch noted earlier this week.
Aitken was the first driver to put down a representative lap in his Cadillac. However, he didn’t last long at the front before Heinrich got down into the 70-second bracket.
Just before the halfway point of the session, Blomqvist put his Acura on top. That was quickly overcome by van der Linde in the No. 24 BMW. Blomqvist was able to respond to that quickly.
Aitken chose to pit for fresh tires in order to improve his chances as he had slipped all the way to ninth. He had six minutes to make them work for him. It did work as he was able to improve his time
Yelloly was the first driver to dip into the 69-second bracket in his Acura. His teammate Blomqvist joined him them. A lap later, Blomqvist put down the eventual pole lap.
The rest of the pack tried to battle back, but they didn’t really have anything for Blomqvist. Only the Acuras managed to get into the 69-second bracket. Everyone else was at minimum three-eighths of a second back.
LMP2 saw Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke put himself on top early in the session. However, he locked up his front tires badly entering the chicane a couple of laps later. As a result, his tires were compromised.
That allowed AO Racing’s PJ Hyett to come to the front with “Rockie.” Hyett set a lap at 125.356 mph in order to lead the pack.
Clarke and the rest of the class tried their best to match Hyett. Clarke managed to improve his time, but no one could prevent Hyett from taking the class pole.
Hyett was .223 seconds faster than Clarke. He also gained three points on Clarke in the championship. Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Misha Goikhberg will start third, followed by United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg. CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz was fifth.
In GTD Pro, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg was fastest early on in his No. 4 Corvette. However, on his first push lap, Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen put himself on top with the fastest GT lap of the whole weekend.
Verhagen later improved with a lap at 116.829 mph. A number of drivers, including Manthey Racing’s Thomas Preining and AO Racing’s Harry King, took their shot at the BMW racer.
A couple of minutes later, Verhagen improved again to a lap at 116.940 mph. This was ultimately good enough for the class pole.
Verhagen’s lap was .144 seconds faster than YRB Racing’s Mattia Drudi in the team’s best GTD Pro qualifying effort. Catsburg will start third, then Alexander Sims in the second Corvette. King was fifth.
In GTD, Vasser Sullivan’s Aaron Telitz was the first driver to set a truly representative lap four minutes into the session. That lap was quickly beaten by Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley.
Just a little over six minutes into the session, Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis turned in a lap at 116.226 mph to take over the provisional pole. At the time, it was more than four-tenths of a second faster than Telitz.
The other 17 cars attempted to beat Ellis’ time, but ultimately could not do so. Ellis held on to win the GTD pole and add just a little bit to his points lead.
Ellis won the pole by .161 seconds over AF Corse’s Antonio Fuoco. Telitz will start third, followed by Lone Star Racing’s Lin Hodenius. Foley will start fifth. This result increases the points lead for Ellis and Russell Ward from six to 15 points over Foley and Patrick Gallagher.
The session came to end with a little more than three minutes remaining when Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe ran in the back of Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson under braking for the chicane. Adelson was able to continue with rear damage, while Iribe went off and got stuck in the gravel.
IMSA officials blamed Iribe for the incident. As a result, he lost his two best qualifying laps and dropped from 11th to 16th.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Petit Le Mans Qualifying Results
The Motul Petit Le Mans is scheduled to go green at 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Coverage will begin at Noon ET on NBC and Peacock. Coverage beyond 3 p.m. ET of the 10-hour race will air exclusively on Peacock.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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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