Blomqvist Claims Pole for 6H Watkins Glen

Photo: MSR

Tom Blomqvist has claimed pole for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in a record-breaking lap by the Meyer Shank Racing driver.

Blomqvist reeled off a best time of 1:29.580 in his No. 60 Acura ARX-05 to edge out the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry of Filipe Albuquerque by 0.164 seconds. 

It marked the first pole of the season for the DPi points-leading MSR squad and an Acura front-row lockout for the third round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

Sebastien Bourdais qualified third in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, followed by the sister No. 02 entry qualified by Earl Bamber in fourth.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Olivier Pla completed the top-five, followed by Tristan Vautier’s No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac.

Kamui Kobayashi completed only three laps in his No. 48 Ally-sponsored Cadillac, setting the slowest time overall in the session with a front braking issue.

The car underwent an engine change prior to the morning’s practice session and incurred a spin in the hands of Jimmie Johnson.

Ben Keating picked up another pole in LMP2 following a session-long duel with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports teammate Steven Thomas.

Keating’s 1:33.930 in the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson edged out Thomas by a mere 0.001 seconds following a late improvement by the No. 11 entry.

The No. 20 High Class Racing Oreca of Dennis Andersen will start third in class, meanwhile.

LMP3 pole honors went to Nico Varrone in the No. 40 FastMD Racing Duqueine D08 Nissan, in a session that ended under a red flag due to an accident by the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Jarett Andretti.

Andretti made contact with the Turn 11 barriers, causing left-rear suspension damage before spinning in Turn 1. The session did not restart.

Varrone edged out the No. 58 MLT Motorsports Ligier of Josh Sarchet by 0.562 seconds.

De Phillippi, McAleer Take GTD Pro, GTD Poles

BMW M Team RLL scored its maiden GTD Pro class pole, thanks to Connor De Philippi’s 1:44.755 lap time in the No. 25 BMW M4 GT3.

De Phillippi edged out the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn by 0.048 seconds in the closely-fought session.

Davide Rigon put the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 third in class but fourth on the grid amongst the production-based category entries.

GTD Pro pole went to Stevan McAleer in the class championship-leading No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

McAleer’s 1:45.077 was nearly four-tenths ahead of Richard Heistand, who put the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 second in class on the grid.

It marked McAleer’s first career WeatherTech Championship pole in the car he’ll share with Mike Skeen and Dirk Mueller.

Heistand was just 0.202 seconds slower than the sister, GTD Pro class Lexus entry qualified by Ben Barnicoat.

Robby Foley qualified the No. 96 Turner Motorsport third in the GTD class with a 1:45.2426 lap.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen gets underway Sunday at 10:40 a.m. ET with live coverage on Peacock 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