Yelloly Leads Acura Front Row Lockout at Road America

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Nick Yelloly led a front-row sweep for Acura Meyer Shank Racing for Sunday’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix, with the Acura ARX-06s clearing the field by nearly four-tenths for the first-ever Michelin Endurance Cup round at Road America.

Yelloly reeled off a chart-topping 1:48.233 in the No. 93 Acura to edge out teammate Tom Blomqvist by 0.157 seconds.

It marked Yelloly and Acura’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole after taking top qualifying honors at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in April.

The Englishman will share driving duties of the No. 93 entry with Renger van der Zande in the six-hour contest.

Best of the rest in GTP was the No. 24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde, sporting a special Spider-Man livery, in third, with Louis Deletraz slotting the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R in fourth.

Laurens Vanthoor completed the top-five in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963, which is in a throwback Sunoco Porsche 917/30 livery this weekend as part of Team Penske’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

GTP points leader Jack Aitken qualified sixth, ahead of WTR’s Filipe Albuquerque and the Ross Gunn-qualified Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkrie, which qualified eighth, despite losing the car’s fastest lap because of bringing out a red flag in Friday’s practice.

Felipe Nasr, Macro Wittmann and Kaylen Frederick rounded out the GTP grid.

Top qualifying honors in LMP2 went to the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Daniel Goldburg, thanks to a 1:54.212 lap time.

Misha Goikhberg qualified second in class in the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry, with Jeremy Clarke third for Inter Europol Competition.

King, Wadoux Take GTD Pro, GTD Poles

The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Harry King captured the GTD Pro pole, the Porsche-contracted driver’s first in series competition.

King’s 2:04.042 lap time was 0.140 seconds quicker than the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Neil Verhagen, with Alexander Sims third in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Max Esterson made it four different manufacturers in the top-four in the No. 59 Team RLL McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 made it onto the track after swapping chassis following Jack Hawksworth’s accident in practice earlier in the day although it was shown a mechanical black flag.

Lilou Wadoux claimed GTD class pole honors in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

The Frenchwoman reeled off a 2:04.688 lap time to edge out the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward by 0.167 seconds.

Valentin Hasse-Clot qualified the No. 068 YRB Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo third, just 0.002 seconds behind.

It marked Ferrari factory driver Wadoux’s first WeatherTech Championship pole.

Casper Stevenson qualified the No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette in fourth, with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Patrick Gallagher completing the top-five.

The Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America takes the green flag Sunday at 10:40 a.m. CST, with live coverage on Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel internationally.

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