Aitken Storms to Rolex 24 Pole in Action Express Cadillac

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Jack Aitken stormed to pole position for this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, marking Action Express Racing and Cadillac’s second top qualifying position in the last three years at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

Aitken reeled off a best lap of 1:33.939 lap time in his No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R, having been the only driver to dip below the 1:34 mark in the 15-minute GTP qualifying session.

His time was 0.102 seconds quicker than Renger van der Zande in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, who qualified second.

Aitken will share driving duties in the Florida endurance classic with Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and NASCAR rising star and former Rolex 24 class winner Connor Zilisch.

Louis Deletraz made it two Cadillacs in the top-three in qualifying, putting his No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing entry, while two-time and defending Rolex 24 winner Felipe Nasr was fourth, as the quickest Porsche 963 driver.

Tom Blomqvist completed the top-five in the sister MSR entry, with Kevin Estre sixth in the No. 6 Penske Porsche and Filipe Albuquerque seventh in the No. 10 WTR Cadillac.

JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Nico Pino out-qualified both of the Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s, which were ninth and tenth, with Ross Gunn bringing up the rear in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie.

LMP2 pole honors went to the No. 43 Inter Eurpol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson of Jeremy Clarke.

Clarke, in his Rolex 24 debut, outran the No. 99 AO Racing entry of PJ Hyett by 0.008 seconds.

Hyett attempted to improve on his 1:39.960 lap time in the ‘Gold Spike’-liveried car but locked up the brakes entering Turn 1 on his second-to-last flying lap.

Daniel Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosports machine, will start third in class, ahead of Ben Keating, who had an early session spin in his No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen entry.

Sims, Robichon Take GTD Pro, GTD Class Poles

Alexander Sims grabbed GTD Pro pole in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, having reeled off a benchmark 1:45.106 lap time.

Sims’ time was 0.170 seconds quicker than second-placed Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which was second quickest in class but only sixth in the overall ranking.

The No. 59 Rahal Letterman Lanigan McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Dean McDonald was third in class ahead of Maro Engel’s 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in fourth.

GTD qualifying honors went to the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Zach Robichon, who was set the second-quickest time amongst the production-based cars.

The GTD Pro grid will be re-ordered ahead of the entire GTD field, a process that debuted last year.

Robichon recorded a best lap of 1:45.113 to edge out defending class champion Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG by 0.074 seconds.

The FIA Silver-rated Canadian will share the wheel of the Aston with Mattia Drudi, Tom Gamble and Eduardo Barrichello.

Robby Foley was third quickest in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW, with Charlie Eastwood (DXDT Racing Corvette) and Valentin Hasse Clot (Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin) completing the top five in class.

A final practice session is on tap for Friday morning before the start of the Florida endurance classic on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBC and IMSA Radio, as well as IMSA’s YouTube channel for international viewers.

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