Pumpelly, Flying Lizard on Detroit GTD Pole

Photo: John Dagys

Flying Lizard Motorsports will start Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic from the top spot in GT Daytona, thanks to a pole-winning run by Spencer Pumpelly today at Belle Isle.

Pumpelly took his No. 45 Audi R8 LMS to a best lap of 1:32.914, in the 15-minute qualifying session, which saw five different manufacturers represented in the top-five in the production-based class.

It marked back-to-back TUDOR United SportsCar Championship poles for the Flying Lizard driver after scoring his first of the season three weeks ago at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Pumpelly and co-driver Nelson Canache would go on to dominate that race, only to run out of fuel on the final lap. This time around, Pumpelly is hoping for better fortunes tomorrow.

Jeroen Bleekemolen qualified second in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports SRT Viper GT3-R, while the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America will start third in class thanks to Kevin Estre’s 1:33.246 lap time.

The Monterey class-winning No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 of Dane Cameron was fourth, while James Davison completed the top-five aboard the No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage.

Pumpelly’s lap was remarkably nearly three seconds faster than the Rolex Series GT class pole-winning lap here last year.

The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic takes the green Saturday at 12:10 p.m. ET with FOX Sports 1 coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.

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