Nicky Catsburg took pole position in the GTD Pro category for the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R as part of the IMSA WeatherTech ‘SportsCar Weekend’ at Road America.
A combined field of 25 GT cars took on the 15-turn, 4.048-mile Road America circuit to fight out for GTD Pro and GTD pole positions.
Most unusually, all 10 GTD Pro cars were all ahead of the GTDs as just 1.390 seconds separated the front and the rear of the Pro field in the end.
For Julien Andlauer, taking the place of Seb Priaulx for the remainder of the season, he would bring the spotlight to the #77 AO Racing ‘Roxy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R as he took on qualifying duties.
Having taken pole last year, the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR showed eager and promising pace to repeat the feat.
Drivers were pushing the limits of their cars, as Franke Montecalvo (#12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F) and Giamarco Levorato (#55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang) found themselves wide onto the grass, though without any further harm caused to their GT3s.
Corvette Racing spent much of the session in 1-2 formation, having achieved that finish at the previous round, the Chevrolet Grand Prix, for the first time with the new Z06 GT3.R package.
Deservedly so from their drivers’ performances, the GM manufacturer claimed 1-2 in qualifying with the #4 ahead of the #3.
Nicky Catsburg claimed pole position and the qualifying track record with a fastest lap time of 2:02.198, with the other car driven by Alex Sims at just 0.194 seconds away with a 2:02.392 lap.
Impressively on Conquest Racing’s GTD Pro debut in their #35 Ferrari 296, Giacomo Altoe qualified third in his first qualifying session outside of the 24 Hours of Daytona, with a 2:02.729.
Fourth was taken by Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus having set a fastest time of 2:02.912.
At just 0.001 of a second behind the Brit in fifth was Mike Rockenfeller, again continuing the competitiveness of the better-performing #64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3 with a 2:02.913.
In GTD, it was the #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mikael Grenier at the top with a 2:03.634 lap time.
Second position was narrowly taken by Zach Robichon in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin owing to a 2:03.764.
Onofrio Triarsi took third in the #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 after he put down a 2:03.841, followed by the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher and his 2:03.981.
Championship leaders #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 rounded out the top-five in GTD after Russell Ward set a 2:04.150.
See here for the full classification of qualifying for the 2024 IMSA Sportscar Weekend.
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