Bomarito, Mazda on Pole at Road America

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Mazda has scored its third WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole of the year, in dominating fashion from Jonathan Bomarito in qualifying for Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase.

Bomarito shattered the track qualifying record at Road America, storming to a 1:54.507 lap in the No. 55 Mazda Prototype he shares with Tristan Nunez.

It marked the first WeatherTech Championship pole for Bomarito since 2014 as the Japanese manufacturer seeks its breakthrough first overall win, after a number of failed attempts earlier this season.

The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Christian Fittipaldi qualified second, a full 1.152 seconds behind Bomarito, with Ricky Taylor third in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.

Tom Long in the sister No. 70 Mazda and the No. 31 Action Express Corvette DP of Eric Curran completed the top-five overall and in class.

The Prototype qualifying session was interrupted with seven minutes remaining when John Pew beached the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda in Turn 3 and required a toe.

It set up a four-minute shootout, which saw improvements from a handful of drivers, including Bomarito’s record-setting lap.

James French scored back-to-back class poles on home soil at Road America, with the Sheboygan, Wis. native taking his Performance Tech Oreca FLM09 to the top spot in Prototype Challenge.

French reeled off a best lap of 1:59.133 following a series of late improvements in the 15-minute session from the top five in the spec prototype class.

He edged out the No. 7 Starworks Motorsport entry of Jose Gutierrez by just 0.075 seconds, with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports car of Misha Goikhberg third with a 1:59.462 lap.

French will share the wheel of his Performance Tech entry with Kyle Marcelli tomorrow.

The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase gets underway Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1.

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