Castroneves Takes Pole for 6H Road Atlanta

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Helio Castroneves has scored pole for Saturday’s TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, putting Acura Team Penske on top in qualifying for the second round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner reeled off a 1:08.674 lap time in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05 to edge out the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Felipe Nasr by 0.056 seconds.

It marked Castroneves’ second pole of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Nasr set a 1:08.730 lap time after having an off-course excursion in the heated 15-minute qualifying run.

The No. 6 Acura DPi of Dane Cameron qualified third, ahead of the pair of Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-P, led by the No. 77 entry of Tristan Nunez.

The championship-leading Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi qualified seventh out of the eight-car field.

Porsche, meanwhile, has claimed pole in a closely fought battle in GT Le Mans.

Nick Tandy’s 1:16.167 lap in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR edged out the Antonio Garcia-driven No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R by 0.014 seconds.

It marked the German manufacturer’s third pole of the WeatherTech Championship season.

Garcia’s teammate, Tommy Milner, was third, followed by the No. 912 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor.

The entire GTLM field, including the two trailing Team RLL BMW M8 GTEs, were separated by less than two-tenths of a second.

Frankie Montecalvo scored top qualifying honors in GT Daytona, marking the third class pole in four races for AIM Vasser Sullivan and Lexus.

Montecalvo reeled off a 1:19.757 in the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 that he will share with Townsend Bell and Aaron Telitz.

The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Madison Snow qualified second, ahead of Jan Heylen in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Eleven of the 12 GTD entries set time in qualifying, with the No. 44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini electing to skip qualifying to save tires for the race.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Patrick Kelly, meanwhile, picked up the class pole in LMP2, which features only two cars this weekend.

The TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta gets underway Saturday at 11:35 a.m. ET with live coverage on NBCSN and IMSA Radio.

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