Patrick Long claimed his first pole since the American Le Mans era of sports car racing, shattering the previous GTD qualifying record to lead the class to green in the Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday.
“We’ve had a slumpy season,” Long said after his run, “and it reminds everyone on the crew that the winds change quickly in motorsports.”
“It wasn’t easy to get here, but it makes it all the more sweeter.”
Long made his fastest lap at the midpoint of the session, recording a lap time of 51.491. Not only is this time a second faster than the previous class qualifying record at Lime Rock Park, but it was also faster than some GTLM times set in Friday’s practice sessions.
Dominik Baumann followed in P2, with teammate Jack Hawksworth in P3 after an up and down Friday for 3GT Racing. Hawksworth, who spent the latter fourth of the qualifying session alone on track, made one final flying lap push to try and claim the pole but missed the chicane and ran off.
Bryan Sellers was quick off of the start of the session, making up for lost time on Friday as the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini missed the second practice session due to an engine change. The championship leading #48 team will start today’s race from P4.
Katherine Legge, fighting for the points lead against the #48 team, also came out strong but fell back in the session. She will start today’s race P9, two spots behind Meyer Shank Racing teammate Lawson Aschenbach.
The Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park gets underway Saturday at 3:10 p.m. ET. Patrick Long will lead the GTD field to the green.
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