Deletraz gets WTR by Andretti in the lead of championship

IMSA

Oct 13

Louis Deletraz gets WTR by Andretti in the lead of championship by clinching pole in GTP class. The 35 points awarded for pole moves the #10 full-season drivers of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor from three points back in the championship hunt to nine points ahead. Deletraz did set the fastest lap in class but due to changing track conditions was sixth overall, 1.543 sec. from the Benchmark set by Ben Keating with #52 Oreca LMP2 07.

Louis Deletraz in GTP

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06.

An Acura will lead the field to green in the final race of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, with Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport’s Louis Deletraz qualifying his #10 Acura ARX-06 on pole for the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Louis Deletraz: “The track conditions were difficult [with light rain falling]. We started out on slicks, but it was super slippery, so the team made the right call to change to the [grooved] wet weather tires. I had one clear lap and pushed as much as I could. I mean, I can’t believe we’re on pole – it’s an amazing way to start the weekend. The team was incredible. I’ve been the third driver [for endurance rounds] all year, but they gave me the opportunity to qualifying here, even though there is a lot on the line with the championship. I’m super happy. That’s good for the championship, but the real important part is tomorrow.” Source: Acura Motorsports.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #01 Cadillac V-Series.R.

Sebastien Bourdais with #01 Cadillac V-Series.R he will share with Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon posted the second best time in class 0.230 sec. slower than Deletraz.

The second-place starting position cut Cadillac’s deficit in half in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Manufacturer race to four points.

Sebastien Bourdais: “It's a shame with the weather. I think we had a really good car for the dry and then everything goes up in the air and you don't know what you got. I'm happy for the guys; they've all worked so hard this weekend and throughout the season. We'll start P2, which is a good place to be. It would have been good to be on pole for the first time this year, but it is a strong starting position and we have a strong car for tomorrow." Source: Cadillac Racing.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8.

Agusto Farfus was 0.099 sec. short to matching Bourdais, placing the #24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 he shares with Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann third in class.

Ben Keating in LMP2

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca.

Ben Keating with #52 Oreca LMP2 07 from PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports was the fastest of combined qualifying sessions and will start the LMP2 class from pole ahead of both TDS Racing Oreca #11 and #35.

Van Berlo in LMP3

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. G. Van Berlo with #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 was the fastest in LMP3 class 0.129 sec. ahead of R.Lindy with #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Duqueine D08.

Lexus on top of GTD PRO

Antonio Garcia qualified the #3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R he shares with Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner second in class for the last qualifying run in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the C8.R, which will give way to the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R in 2024.

Antonio Garcia: “Not a good session. It was pretty bad not knowing where I was. We went out thinking we would have a shot but right away I saw that the track was very dry. I was out on the track with everyone coming, so I played nice and let everybody by to the point where I launched myself in second gear coming to start/finish instead of accelerating out Turn 12 because I was still kind of moving out of the way. My first lap was a 24.6 but I caught traffic and would have probably been an easy 1:23. It was just a point of where everyone was, trying to play nice and getting out of the way of everyone. By the time I could push again, the grip in the tires was not back to what I had on the very first lap.” Source: Corvette Racing

Iron Dames in first row of GTD

Ian James with #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage did the bet of qualifying with slick tires which did pay off as he did set the fastest lap for both classes (GTD PRO and GTD).

Doriane Pin got the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracane #83 in first row by qualifying in P2 (P3 combined classes).