After being far from the top in this morning’s practice, Sebastien Bourdais turned a surprise flyer on his sixth lap to claim the Motul Pole Award for the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R and will lead the field to the green for tomorrow’s six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, the penultimate round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Bourdais put in a stunner to take the pole over Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s Louis Delétraz by 0.225s with a 1m14.592s lap, good for an average of 117.71mph around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Surprisingly, its Bourdais’ first pole position at the Brickyard in 22 attempts through sports cars and IndyCar. The pole, combined with less stellar performances by the Porsche Penske Motorsport squad, is a good start to keeping Bourdais and Renger van der Zande in the championship fight.
“We live to fight another day, and that’s very much the spirit we’re into until the end of season,” saidBourdais. “It seems like it’s going to be a bit of a tough day tomorrow, maybe with the with weather coming, so starting in front might not be the worst idea that we’ve had this weekend. Although quite insignificant for a six-hour race, it’s always very pleasing for personal matters, and also for the team, because everybody’s been working really hard to give us the best car and and that Cadillac was definitely quite good today. So I’m very, very happy with the performance, but also very focused for what’s coming ahead and seemingly a very grueling six-hour race.”
Delétraz had been quickest driver of the weekend so far, but his 1m14.817s lap in the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 was only enough for the outside of the front row. In contrast to last year’s front-row lockout, the best Porsche Penske Motorsports could do was the inside of the second row for the No. 6 963, courtesy of Mathieu Jaminet’s 1m14.848s time. Jack Aitken made it two Cadillacs in the top four with a 1m14.936 in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R.
The two BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s started the fast laps four laps in, and Connor De Phillippi and Philip Eng traded quick times before Jaminet moved ahead. De Phillippi and the No. 25 BMW ended up the better of the two in fifth. Ricky Taylor will start outside the third row in the No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura. The championship-leading No. 7 PPM 963 could do no better than seventh in the hands of Felipe Nasr, with the No. 24 BMW alongside.
Nick Boulle and Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports have been on a roll in LMP2 since the victory for Boulle and Tom Dillmann at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park that propelled them into the championship lead. Boulle continued that by not only setting the quickest lap, but also the next two quickest laps. Boulle was the only driver into the 1m17s range in the No. 52 ORECA, his best being a 1m17.618s (113.12mph) lap.
“To be perfectly honest, I think we’ve struggled in in qualifying through the year, just in terms of finding that magic lap and for getting the tires in the right window,” he said. “And we found it. So it was certainly a special lap, and one I’ll remember for a long time.”
Defending Indianapolis winner Steven Thomas will start alongside Boulle after posting a 1m18.079s lap in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA. The second row of LMP2 will be Ben Keating with a 1m18.091s in the No. 2 United Autosports entry on the inside, PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA outside. Dan Goldburg (No. 22 United Autosports) and Luis Perez-Companc (No. 88 AF Corse) were fifth and sixth.
In an extremely tight battle for the GTD PRO championship, every point is going to count, and that could include qualifying points. Laurin Heinrich would have had the prime track position for the start of the race tomorrow after a 1m23.150s lap in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, but the Porsche was found to have insufficient ground clearance in post-race technical inspection and was moved to the back of the field.
Instead, Nicky Catsburg’s 1m23.209s (105.52mph) time in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R earned him the inside front-row start position.
“It’s nice to be on pole for tomorrow. It’s a shame for the 77, but at the same time it’s a nice little surprise for me and the team,” said Catsburg. “Qualifying is a little irrelevant when it comes to these long races, but it is good to be there. It proves that we’ve done good work in practice and what we are doing is working. We can build on that for the race, and I’m very pleased with where we are starting.”
It was another step forward for Ford Multimatic Motorsports and the Mustang GT3 after Mike Rockenfeller qualified the No. 64 in second at 1m23.245s, and he’ll start outside the front row. Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 claimed the inside of the second row with a 1m23.261s lap. The No. 1’s full-season drivers, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, are third in the championship, although a good bit back from second. The No. 3 Corvette (Alexander Sims) will start alongside Verhagen.
With the penalty for AO Racing, Alex Riberas’ No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo will start fifth. Riberas’s co-driver, Ross Gunn, started the qualifying session 17 points behind Heinrich, but the two are now in a dead heat. The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Daniel Serra will occupy the outside of the third row.
The first of the GTD qualifiers will start eighth overall. Mikael Grenier took his second pole in three races and the second of his IMSA WeatherTech Championship career for Korthoff Preston Motorsports, turning a 1m23.537s in the No. 32 Mercedes AMG, fresh off its first victory at VIRginia International Raceway. Grenier will start outside Roman De Angelis in the No. 027 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, in the GTD PRO class for this race, in the fourth row.
“We did good job, because in practice, we were quite lost,” said Grenier. “We had some issues with the car, so I didn’t know what to expect in qualifying. Still not feeling that great, but at least we improved a lot. I think we know which direction to move for tomorrow, so it’s a good starting spot. My teammates are also on the pace, so it should be stay out of trouble, try to go through the rain if there’s some rain, and be there in the last hour.”
Gianmarco Levorato put the No. 55 Proton Competition Mustang GT3 in second, 0.262s back of Grenier. Grenier and Levorato will have a nice buffer to their competition at the start with four GTD PRO cars behind them before the next GTD cars in 14th and 15th overall. Parker Thompson was the third-quickest qualifier for Vasser Sullivan Racing, but the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 was also found to not meet the minimum ground clearance requirements. Thus, Patrick Gallagher in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 will start third in GTD, 15th overall. Defending race winner and championship leader Russell Ward qualified fourth in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG to start outside Gallagher.
The green flag for tomorrow’s six-hour race is scheduled for 11:40am ET.