Aitken Storms to 6H Watkins Glen Pole

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Jack Aitken stormed to pole for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, setting a new GTP track qualifying record along the way ahead of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship enduro.

Aitken, in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, reeled off a chart-topping 1:31.284 lap time to edge out a late session improvement by Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 by 0.197 seconds.

Louis Deletraz qualified third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, followed by Renger van der Zande in the sister No. 93 Acura.

The No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 of Laurin Heinrich completed the top-five, and retained his starting position despite losing his quickest time because of co-driver Tijmen van der Helm bringing out a red flag in Saturday’s practice after suffering an accident.

Dries Vanthoor was quickest of the Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s in sixth, ahead of the No. 10 WTR Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and Laurens Vanthoor’s No. 6 Penske Porsche in seventh and eighth, respectively.

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Ross Gunn qualified ninth, with Felipe Nasr completing the top-ten in the No. 7 Penske Porsche.

Qualifying was delayed by nearly two hours after curbing issues that impacted the end of the Michelin Pilot Challenge race, and led to the track removing the majority of the curbs at the Bus Stop.

Clarke, Hawksworth Take LMP2, GTD Pro Poles

Jeremy Clarke claimed LMP2 class pole honors in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson.

Clarke reeled off a 1:35.124 lap time to outpace the No. 99 AO Racing entry of PJ Hyett by 0.164 seconds.

It marked his second pole of the season after taking class pole for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Hyett’s best lap of 1:35.288, meanwhile, was disallowed due to bringing out a red flag in the closing stages of the second practice session, although his 1:35.288 lap still held up as second quickest in the session.

Daniel Goldburg qualified third in the No. 22 United Autosports entry, with George Kurtz fourth in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca.

Jack Hawksworth picked up the GTD Pro class pole, pedaling the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to a best lap of 1:43.701 in the category’s dedicated 15-minute session.

Like Aitken, Hawksworth set a new track qualifying record in class.

It was 0.213 seconds quicker than the second-placed No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Harry King, who made a late session run of improvements.

Neil Verhagen qualified third in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, with Chris Mies and James Calado completing the top-five in class aboard their No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO and No. 033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, respectively.

GTD Qualifying Abandoned After Ward Crash; Grid Set on Points

A heavy accident for the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward, who lost control of his car over the newly-curbless Bus Stop and brought out a red flag with just six minutes completed, resulted in the session being abandoned and set by team points due to not meeting the minimum green flag run time.

Ward was seen climbing from the wrecked car under his own power.

The No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo will therefore start from the class pole, ahead of the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW and No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus in second and third, respectively.

Frankie Montecalvo, in the No. 12 Lexus, had set the quickest time, a 1:44.906, prior to Ward’s session-ending accident.

Fifteen of the 20 GTD cars had set times prior to the red, although it’s unclear if the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG will be rebuilt in time to start the race tomorrow, and if so, would be lining up from fourth on the grid, based on points, or be penalized due to bringing out the red flag.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled to get underway Sunday at 12:10 p.m. EST 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