Aitken Outpaces Campbell for Petit Le Mans Pole

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Jack Aitken edged out Matt Campbell to pole position for Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans, putting Action Express Racing and Cadillac on top for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.

Aitken reeled off a 1:09.639 lap in the No. 31 Cadillac to outpace Campbell’s No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 by 0.070 seconds.

Connor De Phillippi qualified the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid third, with Sebastien Bourdais fourth quickest in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Filipe Albuquerque completed the top-five, with teammate Jordan Taylor in sixth.

Phil Hanson qualified the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche in seventh, ahead of Nick Tandy’s factory No. 6 Penske Porsche in eighth, which was separated by less than six tenths.

Ben Keating scored pole in LMP2 aboard the No. 2 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson, out-running the No. 11 TDS Racing entry of Steven Thomas by 0.234 seconds, with AO Racing’s PJ Hyett third on the time sheets.

The class championship-leading No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry of Nick Boulle will roll off from fourth on the class grid, meanwhile.

Heinrich, Andrews Claim GT Pole Honors

GTD Pro points leader Laurin Heinrich claimed pole in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in a new track qualifying record.

Heinrich’s 1:17.891 lap time was 0.052 seconds quicker than the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner.

It marked Heinrich’s first career WeatherTech Championship pole.

Ross Gunn, who sits second in the GTD Pro title fight, put his No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo third on the class grid, followed by the No. 3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Fred Vervisch’s No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3, which completed the top-five.

GTD pole honors went to the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Scott Andrews, who qualified sixth amongst the production-based ranks.

The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley was second in class, followed by Philip Ellis’ No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG in third.

The GT session saw a red flag with nine minutes to go for debris from the left-front of the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus after Daniel Serra swiped Parker Thompson while entering Turn 10a. Both Serra and Thompson lost their quickest laps at the time for causing the red flag.

Serra’s 1:20.137 lap time had been the quickest at the time prior to the red.

Thompson, meanwhile, stopped on track in the closing moments of the session’s resumption with an apparent issue.

The 27th Motul Petit Le Mans gets underway Saturday at 12:10 p.m. EDT with live coverage on NBC and Peacock.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John