Sebastien Bourdais claimed pole for the IMSA Sportscar Championship’s 6 hour race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the ‘Battle on the bricks’, with the Cadillac factory driver setting a 1:14.592 to go fastest.
The Frenchman was 0.225 faster than Louis Deletraz in the #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06, with Mathieu Jaminet third in the #6 Porsche 963, a further 0.031 off.
The session began with the two BMW M Hybrid V8s, #24 driven by Philipp Eng and #25 with Connor de Phillippi onboard, set the initial pace, with the times really beginning to ramp up in the second half of the 15 minute session, with the drivers mostly scrubbing in tyres for the race in the first half.
Eng set a 1:15.228 to top the times going into the second half of the session, but his teammate beat him with a 1:15.200.
Shortly after, though, Porsche’s Jaminet almost became the first driver to go below 75 seconds, with a 1:15.003. Deletraz did just that moments after, going almost a tenth quicker, but Bourdais then put his pole-sitting lap in, which proved unbeatable for everyone else in the remaining four minutes.
Second went to Deletraz, who beat Jaminet to second late on. With three manufacturers in the top 3, Cadillac’s Jack Aitken was the first ‘repeat’ manufacturer, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R. De Phillippi took fifth for BMW, with WTRAndretti’s Ricky Taylor sixth in the sister #10 Acura, and Eng eighth in the other #24 BMW.
Boulle claims first IMSA pole in LMP2
In LMP2, Nick Boulle took pole for the Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen team, setting a 1:17.618 to claim his first IMSA Sportscar Championship pole position.
As the session started, the usual suspects set the initial pace. Ben Keating, in the #2 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson, and Steven Thomas onboard the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, traded fastest laps, with the two the only drivers into the 1:18s with six minutes gone.
Keating’s United Autosports’ teammate, Daniel Goldburg in the sister #22 car, joined them in the 1:18s, but all three were soon beaten by Nick Boulle in the #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, setting a 1:167.860, the only driver into the 1:17s.
A few laps later, Boulle improved further by well over two tenths, setting a 1:17.618, which no one else was able to match. Indeed, Boulle’s fastest three laps would have taken pole.
Behind him, Steven Thomas snuck in late to take second, 0.461 behind Boulle.
In third was Keating, just 0.012 off for United Autosports, with PJ Hyett fourth in the #99 AO Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, a further 0.016 off Keating. Finally, Goldberg was fifth quickest, 0.562 slower than Boulle.
