DragonSpeed driver Giacomo Altoe claimed the GTD Pro class pole position for the IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix sprint at Road America.
The GTD Pro winners from last time out at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park emerged on top of qualifying, as Russell Ward came out on top of the fight in the GTD category as a title protagonist chasing a back-to-back title this year.
The fight was gripping to follow, with two-hundredths of a second covering the top three GTD Pros during the session.
Altoe’s 2:03.904 lap time set him at the top of the GTD Pros, followed by Alexander Sims’ #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R (2:03.914) and Tommy Milner’s #4 Corvette (2:03.924).
Dan Harper puts the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo in fourth with a lap time of 2:04.610 ahead of the team’s other #1 BMW of Madison Snow (2:04.644).
The first of the Ford Multimatic Mustang GT3s followed in sixth with Chris Mies’ #65 machine (2:05.089) and Klaus Bachler’s #77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R in seventh (2:05.411).
Mike Rockenfeller set a 2:05.419 in the #64 Ford to go eighth, and Aaron Telitz rounded out the nine GTD Pros which participated, with a 2:05.590 lap time.
Pfaff Motorsport now utilised a spare Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 chassis by GTD team Forte Racing after their accident during FP2, but were unable to participate in qualifying while working on the gifted chassis.
They will start last in GTD Pro, but ahead of the GTD field.
Winward Racing takes GTD pole at Road America
Russell Ward took the GTD class pole position with his lap time of 2:03.745, with the top seven covered by a tight 1-second margin.
He set his sublime benchmark midway during the first session solely for GTDs, landing pole for the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team.
Ward attempted to improve his time whilst his rivals bettered their earlier times in the pursuit of the top spot.
Casper Stevenson finished second for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (2:03.908), followed in third by Onofrio Triarsi in his #021 Triarsi Ferrari 296 GT3 (2:04.160).
Robert Wickens qualified an impressive fourth position in the #36 DXDT Corvette (2:04.208), followed by Parker Thompson’s #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in fifth (2:04.494), who set the best first sector time.
Manny Franco qualified sixth for the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari team (2:04.602) ahead of the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini driver Danny Formal (2:04.625) and Misha Goikhberg’s #78 Forte Lamborghini (2:05.107).
Brendon Iribe lined in ninth for the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (2:05.231) as last year’s race-winning team, Turner Motorsport, rounded out the top 10 GTD qualifiers owing to Patrick Gallagher’s 2:05.936 in the #96 BMW.
The 2-hour and 40-minute sprint race commences Sunday, 3 August at 13:10 local time / 19:10 BST.
READ MORE IN THE GTP / LMP2 QUALIFYING REPORT – Nick Yelloly grasps IMSA pole for MSR Acura at Road America
