Derani, ESM on Pole for 6H Watkins Glen

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

A scorching lap by Pipo Derani has put Tequila Patron ESM on pole for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, leading a front row sweep for Onroak Automotive-built prototypes for the third round of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.

The Brazilian reeled off a 1:34.405 time in the No. 2 Nissan Onroak DPi to edge out a late charge by the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier JS P217 Gibson of Olivier Pla by 0.162 seconds.

The two Onroak development drivers swapped the top spot throughout the 15-minute session, which saw late improvements by all three Cadillac DPi-V.Rs.

It marked the first pole for Nissan, Onroak and ESM in the new-look Prototype class and Derani’s second top qualifying effort in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.

Derani will share driving duties in tomorrow’s race with Ryan Dalziel and team owner Scott Sharp.

A late improvement by Christian Fittipaldi will see the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac start third, ahead of Prototype championship leader Ricky Taylor in fourth, who along with brother Jordan, remain undefeated this year.

The No. 22 ESM Nissan of Johannes van Overveek completed the top-five, after dropping from third on the time sheets in the closing moments.

James French scored his fourth pole out of five races in Prototype Challenge, turning a 1:40.049 lap in his championship-leading No. 38 Performance Tech Oreca FLM09.

French was more than two seconds clear of the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry, qualified by Don Yount.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is set for Sunday at 10 a.m. with live coverage on FS1.

RESULTS: Qualfying

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