Aitken, Keating, Heinrich, Andrews clinched pole

IMSA

Oct 11

Jack Aitken, Ben Keating and Laurin Heinrich scored pole in today’s three qualifying sessions at Road Atlanta for the last round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and the IMSA SportsCar Championship ahead Motul Petit Le Mans. Scott Andrews clinched GTD pole honors during the combined GTD/GTD Pro session.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. Jack Aitken in the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R

GTP class

Jack Aitken in the #31 Cadillac grapped the Motul Pole Award after reeling off a 1:09.639 lap during today’s last qualifying session on front of a record crowd. It is Aitken’s first career IMSA pole and fourth for the team, which also secured pole for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

It is 0:1.374 seconds faster than Sebastien Bourdais’ best time of 1:11.013 with the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R during yesterday’s practice sessions. It shows how the intense traffic at Road Atlanta will make race harder for GTPs as there are sections of the track where one can’t pass and just have to accept losing a couple seconds on top of losing tires ideal temperature to nail a fast lap.

Jack Aitken (pole-winning lap of 1:09.639 on lap 8 of 9): “Honestly, we felt strong most of the weekend, but I’d say there were some tweaks needed to get it right and the team did an awesome job overnight to make those small, small adjustments to make the car feel awesome. It's a real pleasure when you have the track to yourself after all the traffic we had in practice and a car that's working well. I just threw everything at it. We’re not in the championship hunt, so we’re here to get on pole and win the race. Pipo (Derani) told me beforehand to enjoy it and put it in the gravel or put in on pole. We got the right side of that and I’m over the moon. This is one of my most favorite tracks and a privilege to get my first pole here. I think we’re in a good spot and quietly confident going into the race. It's definitely going to be a challenge to keep the tires where you need them to be. I think we're seeing higher degradation in tire wear than we're used to with these tires. You know, again, the circuit is so hard and unrelenting in that sense that if you're not taking care of them, you can fall afoul. We're probably going to have to double-stint a little bit earlier in the race. We're trying to keep one eye on that. The way you win these races is by having a sharp race car at the end of the race when it's spread for the cautions at the end. You can't cater too much for having a conservative car to save the tires early on in the heat of the day." Source: Cadillac Racing.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #01 Cadillac Racing; #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing; #25 BMW M Team RLL and #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport.

Matt Campbell with #7 Penske Porsche 963 lost pole for 0.070 seconds but will start Motul Petit Le Mans season finale from front row.

Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #7): “I’m pleased with my flying lap. In the end, the battle for pole position was super close. We were just over fifty milliseconds off pole position. We’re heading into the race from the front grid row – that’s a great position considering our title ambitions.” Source: Porsche

Connor De Phillippi was third quickest with #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid.

Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac qualified fourth with a best lap of 1:09.964

Sebastien Bourdais (qualified fourth with best lap of 1:09.964 on lap 5 of 10): “It’s difficult to go into a qualifying where you don’t get any kind of rehearsal. With the traffic there is, we didn’t get any quali setup and so we went with what we finished with the day before. It was a bit chaotic on the build-up to the (push) lap, so I missed the window on the tire and couldn’t put a lap together after that. Disappointed, but it’s a 10-hour race and we’ll go racing tomorrow. Good job by the 31 and we’ll see if we can win one to close the season.” Source: Cadillac Racing.

Filipe Albuquerque qualifies his #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 fifth.

Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Qualified 5th: "Last qualifying of the year; I was expecting to do a little bit better. Fifth position in the end. Unfortunately, I didn't have the pace for pole position in the end although the car felt very good. I was a bit frustrated with traffic which ruined my rhythm of push laps, especially on the best laps for the tire. It is what it is. Again, it's important to say that qualifying is just for the ego of the drivers, it means nothing for the race. So, starting fifth, we'll look to have a clean start, and we'll build from there." Source: Acura

LMP2 class

Ben Keating scored pole in LMP2 aboard the #2 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. Ben Keating in the #2 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson.

GTD PRO class

In GTD PRO, Laurin Heinrich claimed pole in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in 1:17.891, 0.052 seconds quicker than the #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner. Ross Gunn put his #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo third

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R - #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R - #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.