Yahoo Autos Aitken scores first IMSA pole with a new GTP track record at Petit Le Mans
It was little surprise to see a Cadillac on pole for Motul Petit Le Mans, but it was neither the Cadillac nor the driver that most expected. Sebastien Bourdais had been quickest in the day and night in practice in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, but instead it was Jack Aitken claiming his first pole position in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and with a new track record no less.
“It’s a real pleasure when you have the track to yourself, pretty much, after the traffic that we had in practice, and a car that’s working well,” Aitken said. “The Whelen Cadillac, we just made a few changes overnight, nothing major, because we’ve been quick all weekend and didn’t have to throw the kitchen sink at it in quali. It was a lot of fun. I’m glad I kept on the black stuff and to have my first pole.”
Aitken pushed the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R to a time of 1m9.639s around the 2.54-mile 12-turn Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, an average of 131.31mph. That was 0.07s better than the endurance addition in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, Matt Campbell, could manage. Campbell received the nomination to qualify the championship-leading car, and achieved with aplomb given the pace the Porsche had shown so far.
Connor De Phillippi qualified the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 on the inside of the second row with a 1m9.929s lap, with Bourdais starting alongside. The third row will be the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 (Filipe Albuquerque) and the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 (Phil Hanson).
The session began with several teams scrubbing tires for the race. Once they started putting in fast laps, Bourdais was the first driver in the 69s range, but was shortly supplanted by Aitken. Then both Campbell and De Phillippi went faster. Both Campbell and Bourdais were still circulating when Aitken pulled in, low on fuel, and all he could do was sit and wait.
“I wasn’t massively confident. I parked it because we were out of fuel, so there was no choice in that matter,” he said. “We commit to that plan before the session starts. And it’s easier to go out with everyone else in the majority of the field and stay in sync, rather than go out later and be warming your tires while everyone else is trying to run hot. So yeah, I parked up. I’d not talked much to the pit wall during the session, so I didn’t really know what the situation was, and then they said you’re in P1 at the moment, we’ll see how it goes. It was just a case of waiting, and it was quite a nervous few minutes, but quite nice to sit in pit lane and see it tick over and still be on pole.”
All 11 GTP entries qualified under the old GTP record, which was set by Bourdais in last year’s race. Qualifying on that occasion took place on a damp track, keeping speeds down, which contributed to everyone being quicker this year.
In an echo of last year’s LMP2 qualifying, Ben Keating claimed pole for United Autosports, driving the No. 2 ORECA to a 1m12.739s (145.75mph) lap to edge Steven Thomas in the No. 11 TDS Racing entry by 0.234s – setting up the same front row as last year.
“The car was just really easy to drive,” said Keating. “Last year, I did it coming to the checkered flag by a hundredth of a second, and I didn’t think there was anything more in the car. Today, to beat that time by 0.3s, I didn’t think it was possible. And so really, really happy with the lap and excited to be starting up front, particularly at this track in this race, because there’s always mayhem everywhere, and have a better chance of staying out of it if I’m up front.”
Keating noted that since he, Ben Hanley and Nico Pino have no championship to fight for, a race win is the only thing on his mind.
PJ Hyett put the No. 99 on the inside of the second row of LMP2 with a 1m13.043s. The championship-leading No. 52 ItInterner Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA (1m13.043s) will start alongside Hyett after Nick Boulle qualified the car in fourth.
Aitken was only one of three first-time polesitters for tomorrow’s race. Laurin Heinrich solidified his GTD PRO championship bid by taking pole for AO Racing. With Ross Gunn qualifying the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo third, the gap going into the race increases from 99 to 104 points in favor of Heinrich.
“Getting that 100-point gap, that mark was really important for us,” said Heinrich. “We knew that Aston Martins, our championship competitors, the 23 car, that they’re quite quick around here. I knew they would qualify well, so I would just have to be on pole. That would be the solution.”
Heinrich put the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R into the overall GTD pole with a 1m17.881s lap, an average speed of 117.41 and a new track record for Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. All but two of the GTD PRO cars lapped under the old record, set by Jack Hawksworth in 2022.
Heinrich’s GTD PRO class pole further padded his championship lead. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Tommy Milner fell 0.052s short of taking the top spot in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R and will start on the outside of the front row. Gunn starts on the inside of the second row after posting a 1m18.041s. Antonio Garcia put the No. 4 Corvette, freshly repaired after significant damage in last night’s final practice, alongside Gunn. Frederic Vervisch was the fifth qualifier in GTD PRO in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3.
Two GTD qualifiers inserted themselves in the fast block of 11 GTD PRO cars, led by Scott Andrews for Lone Star Racing with his first WeatherTech Championship pole. Andrews put the No. 80 Mercedes AMG on the outside of the third row with a new track record of 1m18.281s, beating Madison Snow’s old record.
“We’re really happy with that pole,” he said. “Thanks to Lone Star for giving me the responsibility to qualify the car. It’s always fun – I actually haven’t qualified a car for a long time, so they obviously gave me a rocket ship. Any type of result this year has been a long time coming. We’ve had one of the fastest cars all year, we just haven’t been able to show it in the results. So we’re all really stoked.
Robby Foley, who incidentally was Andrews’ roommate years ago, was the other GTD runner to put his car in the thick of the GTD PRO field. The No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 will start on the outside of the fifth row thanks to Foley’s 1m18.539s lap.
The next GTD qualifier was 14th overall. Philip Ellis pushed the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 to a time of 1m18,751s to lead a long line of GTDs on the outside of the seventh row. Behind him are Mike Skeen in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG and Danny Formal in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.
A minor collision that brought out a three-minute interruption in GTD PRO and GTD qualifying due to debris on the track hurt two teams’ pole position chances. Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 clipped the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Parker Thompson. Aside from the minor damage to both cars, each lost their two fastest laps as a penalty for causing a red flag.
Serra lost a dive plane on the Ferrari and ended up 23rd overall. Thompson not only qualified 30th overall, but also ended the session parked on the pit exit past Turn 1.
AWA Racing elected not to take part in qualifying in order to preserve the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the team’s allotment of Michelin Tires to give Orey Fidani the best chance at winning the Bob Akin Award.
