Blomqvist Closes Points Gap With Petit Le Mans Pole

Tom Blomqvist charged to pole position for Motul Petit Le Mans, chipping down Wayne Taylor Racing’s points lead heading into the final round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Blomqvist reeled off a best lap of 1:08.555 in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05, beating the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. to pole by 0.233 seconds.

It produced Blomqvist’s third pole position of the season, following up on Watkins Glen International and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Ricky Taylor qualified third for Wayne Taylor Racing, surviving a scare when he lost control of the No. 10 Acura through Turn 5 and slid through the gravel.

Although he stopped short of the barriers, it cut the championship leader’s session short.

Taylor managed to stay ahead of the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier, while Sebastien Bourdais, Kamui Kobayashi and Pipo Derani completed the class.

Steven Thomas set pole in LMP2, setting a fastest lap of 1:11.939 in the No. 11 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca o7 Gibson on his flying lap to take pole.

He beat out High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen by just 0.082 seconds, while Ben Keating rounded out the top three in the No. 52 Oreca.

In LMP3, Kay van Berlo beat Malthe Jakobsen in a battle for class pole position as the two drivers traded the top time back and forth at the head of the field.

Van Berlo ultimately won out, posting a best lap of 1:15.517 in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan and beating Jakobsen by 0.108 seconds in the process.

The pair were well clear of the remainder of the LMP3 field, with Jarett Andretti third in the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier and 1,5 seconds off pole.

Hawksworth, Snow Capture Pole in GTD Pro, GTD

Jack Hawksworth charged to GTD Pro position in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, while Madison Snow set the fastest GTD time for Paul Miller Racing.

Hawksworth flew to a best lap of 1:18.835, beating Alex Riberas in the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 by 0.208 seconds.

Riberas initially topped the session with a 1:19.043, but moments after he returned to the pits Hawksworth jumped to the top and then improved once more to take pole.

Snow’s No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 split the GTD Pro pack by taking third behind Hawksworth and Riberas while also taking GTD pole with a best effort of 1:19.118.

The BMW remained ahead of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of James Calado, as well as BMW Team M RLL’s Jesse Krohn and the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia.

Robert Megennis qualified second in GTD for CarBahn with Peregrine Racing, leading NTE/SSR’s Jaden Conwright, GTD points leader Roman de Angelis and the No. 12 Lexus of Richard Heistand.

The 25th edition of Motul Petit Le Mans gets underway at 12:10 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBC.

RESULTS: Qualifying