Road Atlanta Friday Notebook

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

***Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque moved ahead of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims in the GTP standings after Louis Deletraz put the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 on pole for the 26th Motul Petit Le Mans. The WTR full-season duo are nine-points ahead of the Action Express Racing drivers after entering the event three points behind.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet moved to within two points of Derani and Sims after finishing three places ahead in the 20-minute GTP qualifying session that was held in damp conditions.

***Deletraz, who claimed his first career WeatherTech Championship pole, said it was a “big show of trust” from WTR Andretti to let him qualify the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 for the first time. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity and I think we had a very strong car today,” he said.

***The Swiss driver added that WTR Andretti reacted to other teams pitting for a second set of wet weather tires and that gave him limited time to do his flying lap. “We reacted to that and had one lap,” he said. “I felt good and pushed. I got a bit of traffic from JDC in the chicane but it was enough to make it.”

***The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Ben Keating ended up with the fastest overall lap of the session, a 1:13.859, as track conditions worsened during the final qualifying session that was reserved for GTP cars only. Per regulations, IMSA will move the entire GTP grid to the front for the starting grid.

***Keating said his pole was more important than usual due to the championship implications. “Steven Thomas in the No. 11 car has a 20-point lead on us in the championship,” he explained. “The difference between second and third [in the race] is 20 points. We felt like whoever qualified in front and got an extra three points, then the other one could possibly make a difference in the championship.”

***The Heart of Racing team principal Ian James, who scored GTD pole, credited his lap, which edged out GTD pole-sitter Jack Hawksworth, down to tire selection, with the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 taking on slick Michelin tires. It marked the Bronze-rated driver’s first IMSA pole since Laguna Seca 2004, when James scored top qualifying honors in the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class.

***Racers Edge Motorsports by WTR Andretti changed the power steering components of its No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 after issues in Thursday night practice that contributed to Kyle Marcelli’s off-track moment.

***The Racers Edge Acura is the same car that did the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS last weekend according to team principal Jon Mirachi. The team had to make some repairs ahead of Petit after three clashes with a Rearden Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

***Helio Castroneves told Sportscar365 that there are “mixed feelings” in the Meyer Shank Racing camp as the Acura GTP team prepares for its final WeatherTech Championship race until further notice.

***The four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and part-owner of MSR said: “We want to finish on a high note. We have a big program coming in IndyCar and we’re going to focus on that. But the foundation of this team is actually IMSA. Mike [Shank] has been for many years a guy who really believes in this series.”

***MSR gave fans the opportunity to sign the nose of its No. 60 Acura ARX-06 during Friday’s autograph session.

***Josef Newgarden would “love to” race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but that is not his current focus. “Just to start here at Petit is a great honor and I’m focused on this weekend,” said the reigning Indy 500 winner. “There are a lot of new things [such as] driving the car, the circuit type and the racing style. This is a big opportunity this weekend. But for the future, of course, there are lots of races I’d love to do. We just have to wait and see if I get an opportunity.”

***The No. 59 Proton Competition Porsche 963 will start from the back of the GTP grid after losing all of its qualifying times due to a penalty for working on the car during the session.

***JDC-Miller Motorsports team principal John Church indicated they have already determined its driver lineup for the 2024 season, and replacement for the departing Mike Rockenfeller, who was confirmed on Thursday as part of Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ lineup in GTD Pro.

***Church told Sportscar365 that Rockenfeller’s replacement will be someone of similar driving caliber. “We pretty much know what we we’re going to do,” he said. “We’ll announce that later, in another week, two weeks or three weeks. We’re pretty close.”

***While being absent from the 2024 entry list, Sportscar365 understands that WeatherTech Racing is still in the decision-making stage of possibly mounting a program in the series next year. It’s understood that IMSA built-in leeway for several additional entries, namely for the Michelin Endurance Cup races.

***Turner Motorsport, which won the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS and VP Racing SportsCar Challenge GSX class titles on Friday, will have only one BMW M4 GT3 in the WeatherTech Championship next year, with team owner Will Turner confirming that Robby Foley will be a part of its lone GTD entry.

***Turner explained the reason for a single-car entry instead of its two-car effort from this year: “It was by choice and timing. The timing to get two cars in was pretty early this year. I couldn’t commit so I went a different route.”

***Sportscar365 understands that Turner is preparing a BMW for a full season return to Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS next year.

***CSJ Motorsports, which has been the official North American distributor and parts supplier for Aston Martin Racing for the last four years, will not continue in that capacity next year, having declined to participate in the manufacturer’s request for bids for the position in 2024 and beyond, and is pursuing “other options” within the motorsport industry.

***A statement from Aston Martin Racing reads that the British manufacturer will continue to provide “first class service” to all of its customer teams in North America next year, although has not yet named its new partner.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

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