Jack Aitken took pole for the IMSA Sportscar Championship’s Six Hours of Watkins Glen, with the #31 Action Express Cadillac driver setting a 1:31.284. Tom Blomqvist took second for Acura, with Cadillac’s Louis Deletraz third.
The session was delayed for some hours due to the track kerbing coming loose at the Inner Loop bus stop chicane, with track officials fixing it and telling drivers not to use kerbs in this area of the track.
Almost immediately in the GTP qualifying session at Watkins Glen, Aitken set a 1:32.026 to go top immediately, the first GTP faster than the LMP2s. He then improved this to a 1:31.284 to take provisional pole, with 10 minutes still to go!
Aitken’s Cadillac stable mate Louis Deletraz, in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, was initially second and continually improved his time, ending with a 1:31.487, 0.203 off Aitken. However, towards the end of the 15 minutes, Acura’s Top Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura set a 1:31.481 to go second, pipping Deletraz by just 0.006.
Fourth behind Deletraz in third was Renger van der Zande in the sister #93 MSR Acura, with Laurin Heinrich fifth in the #5 Proton Porsche. He lost his fastest lap due to causing a red flag in practice, but this didn’t affect his qualifying position as he was able to set two fast laps.
Clarke and Hyett battle for LMP2 pole
In LMP2, the 15 minutes at Watkins Glen was dominated by a titanic battle between AO Racing’s PJ Hyett, and Inter Europol’s Jeremy Clarke. Hyett, in the #99 Ao Racing Oreca, initially went top with a first representative lap of 1:35.773. He improved this to a 1:35.288, with Clarke second, 0.345 off. However, due to an earlier penalty, Hyett would lose his fastest lap, meaning he’d have to set two laps quick enough to take pole.
Clarke then crossed the line, driving the #43 Inter Europol Oreca, improving to a 1:35.124. This was enough to beat Hyett, but the AO Racing team owner was pushing to set another quick lap. He improved to a 1:35.216, but it wasn’t enough to beat Clarke, doubly so when this was deleted, leaving him with the 1:35.288 he’d set earlier.
With Clarke on LMP2 pole and Hyett second, Daniel Goldburg took third in the #22 United Autosports Oreca, almost four tenths off Clarke. Fourth was George Kurtz in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca, with Misha Goikhberg fifth behind the wheel of the #52 Bryan Herta Autosport Oreca.
Hawksworth claims GTD Pro pole
Neil Verhagen initially went top in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW in GTD Pro, with a 1:44.131, and was top until well over half way in. However, with just under 5 minutes to go, #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus’s Jack Hawksworth went fastest, with a 1:43.827. He then improved this to a 1:43.701, enough to take pole, with the Briton pitting soon after.
However, both Harry King in the #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche and Verhagen werre both trying to improve their times out on track. Neither could beat Hawksworth, but King got almost with 2 tenths, just 0.213 off, to make it a British 1-2 in GTD Pro.
Verhagen took third, a further 0.175 adrift. Fourth was Christopher Mies in the #65 Ford Mustang, while James Calado took fifth in the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari.
GTD qualifying session halted due to crash
The GTDs then got started with their 15 minute session at Watkins Glen, with Antonio Fuoco initially going quickest with a 1:45.414 in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari machine. Frankie Montecalvo, driving the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, then beat him with a 1:44.906 to go top.
However, the session would soon be halted due to Russell Ward, onboard the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes, crashed heavily at the Inner Loop, which earlier had been the source of the track and kerb issues which had delayed the overall IMSA qualifying session.
Ward was fine and got out of the car from under his own power, but race control announced the GTD session would not resume with around 8 minutes on the clock, just less than half remaining. This meant that the GTD grid would be decided by other means, possibly championship points. As the leader of the Sportscar Championship GTD points standings is Dudu Barrichello in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, he would start on pole in this scenario.