Blomqvist Gives Acura MSR Fourth Straight Pole

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Tom Blomqvist gave Acura Meyer Shank Racing its fourth consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP pole after taking top qualifying honors for Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Blomqvist recorded a chart-topping 1:14.569 lap time in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06, which led both practice sessions, to edge out the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken by 0.041 seconds.

Louis Deletraz qualified third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, while teammate Ricky Taylor made it three Cadillacs in the top four.

GTP points leader Matt Campbell completed the top-five in the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963.

Nick Yelloly in the sister Acura MSR entry was sixth, while the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid of Dries Vanthoor lost his seventh-best qualifying time due to teammate Philipp Eng bringing out a red flag in opening practice, dropping him to eighth on the grid, behind teammate Sheldon van der Linde.

The No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 of Romain Grosjean also lost his best time due to triggering a three-car accident in Saturday morning practice and will start ninth.

Felipe Nasr completed the top-ten in the No. 7 Penske Porsche, with the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis and Porsche factory driver Nico Mueller bringing up the rear of the 12-car GTP field in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry.

Nick Boulle broke PJ Hyett’s three-race pole streak by giving United Autosports a front row lockout in LMP2 qualifying.

Boulle, in the No. 2 Oreeca 07 Gibson, reeled off a 1:17.846 lap to edge out teammate Daniel Goldburg by 0.376 seconds.

Hyett, meanwhile, had to settle for third quickest in the No. 99 AO Racing entry, with Jeremy Clarke fourth in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine and Steven Thomas completing the top-five.

Thomas was one of three LMP2 drivers to have lost their quickest times in qualifying due to causing red flags. Thomas’ co-driver Mikkel Jensen had the infraction in Friday’s practice session after contact with another car that led to debris on track.

The No. 8 Tower Motorsport entry lost its best time due to Sebastien Bourdais getting into the rear of Matt Campbell’s No. 6 Penske Porsche in Practice 2, while Chris Cumming initially lost his two best qualifying times due to bringing out a red during qualifying itself when he spun into the Turn 3 gravel trap.

Additionally, all times from the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca were canceled due to the team working on the car during the session.

Stevenson Quickest of All GTs; Harper Takes GTD Pro Pole

GTD Pro class pole honors went to the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Dan Harper, thanks to a 1:23.259 lap time that was nearly two-tenths slower than GTD pole-sitter Casper Stevenson, who ended up quickest of all the GT cars in qualifying.

Harper, who earned his first career pole, edged out fellow GTD Pro competitor Christopher Mies in the No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 by 0.186 seconds.

Mikael Grenier qualified an impressive third in class aboard the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, with Alexander Sims and Andrea Caldarelli completing the top-five in GTD Pro for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and Pfaff Motorsports, respectively.

Caldarelli set an identical time of 1:25.559 to the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich, who will start sixth in class.

Stevenson, meanwhile, also claimed his first WeatherTech Championship pole, giving Heart of Racing Team its second consecutive top qualifying effort for the team in Endurance Cup competition after Zach Robichon took pole at Watkins Glen International.

Stevenson reeled off a 1:23.088 lap time in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to edge out fellow GTD competitor Lilou Wadoux in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 by 0.194 seconds.

Lin Hodenius, in his series debut, qualified third in class in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which lost out on the entire first practice session due to a sensor issue.

The GTD class championship-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Russell Ward will roll off from fourth, with Manny Franco making it two Ferrari in the top-five in his Conquest Racing entry.

Of note, the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo was handed a drive-through penalty for a pit lane protocol infraction. He later qualified tenth in class.

The six-hour Battle on the Bricks gets underway Sunday at 11:40 a.m. EST with live flag-to-flag coverage on Peacock, with the final two hours and 40 minutes live on network NBC, beginning at 3 p.m.

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