Heart of Racing’s team principal Ian James took his maiden LMGT3 pole position for the Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.
At a hot and sunny Circuit of the Americas, James and his Aston Martin came out on top for the Heart of Racing team amidst a closely-matched fight for pole.
In the initial 12-minute session, 18 LMGT3 cars fought for the coveted spot in the top-10 in the class before that group would head into their own fight for pole position.
COTA has not hosted a WEC round in four years, as the LMGT3 machinery are set to take on their first race although GT3-specification cars have participated in many races over the years at the venue situated near Austin, Texas.
Home hero Ben Keating made his return to the championship since the end of last year’s championship-winning season, this time in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3.
Times were close in Q1 as drivers were under pressure to execute fast, tidy laps around the 20-turn course whilst maintaining their tyres in the ideal temperature window to avoid too much degradation.
The Iron Dames, looking out for their third pole position this season, comfortably topped the Q1 session owing to the efforts of Sarah Bovy as she was followed by Heart of Racing’s team principal Ian James in his #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3.
TF Sport, who finished 1-2 in FP3, are considered ‘fan-favourites’ as they run two Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs at what is the General Motors manufacturer’s home race.
Keating made it through to Hyperpole in the #88, as #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo driver Josh Caygill missed out a spot in Hyperpole after straying over track limits towards the end of his final flying lap.
In the 10-minute Hyperpole session, drivers pressed hard as Bovy emerged was the first to set a competitive lap time in the #85 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 before James (#27 Aston Martin) showcased his eagerness to claim the top spot.
In the end, James grasped pole with a 2:05.587 lap time as Bovy ran wide at Turns 16-18 on her final flying lap, leaving her best at 2:05.759.
Third position was taken by AF Corse’s Francois Heriau who set a 2:06.001 in his #55 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 ahead of Alex Malyhkin’s #92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 LMGT3.R, which did a time of 2:06.176.
TF Sport’s #81 Corvette claimed fifth position after Tom van Rompuy put his best time of 2:06.287.
AF Corse’s other car, the #54 Ferrari, made it so that the Maralleno make were one of two LMGT3 manufacturers to have both cars in Hyperpole.
The #54 took sixth place after Thomas Flohr completed a best lap time of 2:06.312, as #59 United Autosports McLaren driver James Cottingham will line up in seventh position for tomorrow’s race after setting a 2:06.521.
Eighth position was secured by D’station Racing’s Clement Mateu in the #777 Aston Martin with a 2:06.609 lap time, followed by Keating’s #88 Proton Competition Ford and a 2:06.650 time.
Team WRT’s Darren Leung finalised the top-10 in the #31 BMW M4 LMGT3 with a 2:07.483.
Lights out will commence on Sunday 1 September at 1pm local time or 7pm BST/UK time.
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