Bourdais Claims Fourth Pole of Season at Belle Isle

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Sebastien Bourdais claimed his fourth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole in the last five races in qualifying for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver reeled off a best lap of 1:18.818, despite slamming into the wall two laps earlier in his No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Bourdais’ best lap was 0.110 seconds quicker than the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Tom Blomqvist, who ended up second in the action-packed 15-minute session.

Ricky Taylor completed the top-three in the DPi points-leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi, meanwhile.

The No. 02 CGR Cadillac of Alex Lynn will roll off from fourth on the grid followed by Olivier Pla in his first weekend aboard the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac.

A late flyer by Kyle Kirkwood put the No. 17 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 on pole in GTD.

Kirkwood, who was quickest in NTT IndyCar Series practice on Friday, stormed to a best lap of 1:29.096 to edge out the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Roman De Angelis by 0.118 seconds.

It marked his second career WeatherTech Championship pole. Kirkwood will share driving duties with Ben Barnicoat tomorrow.

Madison Snow qualified third in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 followed by the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo in fourth.

Aidan Read completed the top-five in the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic gets underway Saturday at 3:10 p.m. ET with live coverage on USA Network and Peacock.

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