Daniel Serra claimed pole position in the GTD and GTD Pro qualifying session for the Six Hours of the Glen, the sixth round of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
A 15-minute session hosted a swift and exciting qualifying in dry conditions for the 21 entries in the GTD class, and 11 in GTD Pro.
As the cars were warmed up and times got quicker, the first representative and impressive lap times were laid down by the Pro drivers with Parker Thompson in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 as the only GTD car in the overall top-10.
Meanwhile Alex Sims in the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R jumped up to the front although took on a left-rear puncture which possibly prevented him from challenging Daniel Serra, who not only set a quick lap time early during the session as just a second covered the top-10 runners.
Having also claimed the GTD Pro track record, Serra took pole in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 with a 1:44.203 lap time ahead of Sims’ #3 Corvette which completed a 1:44.317.
Speaking to IMSA Radio’s pit lane reporter Shea Adam, Serra said: “For a six-hour race, it [the pole position] is not so important but on this track, track position is quite important [because] it’s quite difficult to overtake here.
“Our car is very, very good in the second sector and third sector, but we struggle a little bit in Sector 1 [where] there is more straight line speed [needed].
“It’s good to start from pole. The car was super, it was mega… “
Ross Gunn claimed third position in his #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with a 1:44.387, followed by Jack Hawksworth’s 1:44.511 in his #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
Nicky Catsburg resided in fifth position in his #4 Corvette with a 1:44.561, followed by the GTD pole-sitter Thompson in the #14 as he claimed his third pole of the year.
He will set about earning his third race victory of 2024 in the six-hour race tomorrow.
After qualifying sixth in the combined order, Thompson added: “This is just the start. Vasser Sullivan and Lexus Racing gave me an absolute rocket.
“Well Lexus loves Watkins Glen and we love it back so we’ve got a job to finish.
“So obviously it’s great. I’ve worn a couple of these pole [position] hats this year which is fantastic.
“My hats are off to the #12 guys really – they deserve this and the momentum’s coming for us, I think we’re coming into our own.
“But nobody remembers the pole winner, they only remember the race winner so we’ve got a job to do tomorrow.”
The next GTD competitor was six cars further back, distancing Thompson from his class competitors in amongst the heart of the GTD Pro field.
And so in 12th overall in the combined field, or second in GTD, was the #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari driven by Bronze-graded Onofrio Triarsi and his 1:45.242 lap time.
Third in GTD was the #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mikael Grenier who set a 1:45.432, followed by fourth-placed Russell Ward in the #57 Winward Mercedes-AMG (1:45.541).
Rounding out the top-five cars in the GTD category was Patrick Gallagher in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 after he set a quickest time of 1:45.716.
The six-hour race will commence tomorrow at 11.10am EST/4.10pm BST for the sixth round on the 2024 IMSA schedule.
