Taylor Leads Acura Front Row Sweep at Watkins Glen

Photo: IMSA

Ricky Taylor has led an Acura ARX-05 front row qualifying sweep for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The Wayne Taylor Racing driver reeled off a 1:30.022 lap time to edge out the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi of Dane Cameron by 0.119 seconds in the fast-paced 15-minute session.

Taylor and season-long co-driver Filipe Albuquerque have extended their championship lead as a result of the pole and 35 maximum points.

The duo will share driving duties with NTT IndyCar Series star Alexander Rossi tomorrow’s third leg of the Michelin Endurance Cup.

Renger van der Zande qualified the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R third on the grid, ahead of the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Kamui Kobayashi in fourth.

Teammate Pipo Derani completed the top-five overall and in the DPi class, followed by the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P, which was qualified by Oliver Jarvis.

The No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier brought up the rear of the seven-car class.

Thomas, McCusker, Garcia Take Class Poles

Steven Thomas claimed LMP2 class pole on the final lap of qualifying for WIN Autosport.

The Bronze-rated driver ran a 1:35.304 in his No. 11 Oreca 07 Gibson to edge out Ben Keating’s PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca by 0.018 seconds.

LMP3 pole honors went to the No. 2 United Autosports Ligier JS P30 Nissan of Austin McCusker, in the Anglo-American team’s first WeatherTech Championship class outing.

McCusker’s 1:40.404 lap time was the only LMP3 cr to eclipse the GT Le Mans class pole time, which was set by Antonio Garcia in a Corvette Racing front row sweep.

The Spaniard recorded a 1:40.944 lap in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to edge out teammate Tommy Milner by 0.374 seconds.

The pair of Team RLL BMW M8 GTEs were third and fourth in the hands of Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards with Cooper MacNeil bringing up the rear in the WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, but impressively within 1.5 seconds of class pole-sitter Garcia.

Vasser Sullivan Sweeps GTD Qualifying

Kyle Kirkwood scored the Motul Pole Award in GT Daytona while Vasser Sullivan Racing co-driver Jack Hawksworth earned maximum qualifying points in the two-stage format.

It marked the first race where the same team and car collected top positions in both sessions in the new-for-2021 format.

Kirkwood’s 1:45.539 in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 edged out the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Trent Hindman by 0.310 seconds.

WeatherTech Championship debutant Jaden Conwright will start third in class in the No. 42 NTe Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.

Hawksworth and Vasser Sullivan teammate Zach Veach ended up as the two quickest cars in Q2, ahead of the No. 16 Wright Porsche of Patrick Long.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen gets underway Sunday at 10:40 a.m. ET with live coverage on Trackpass on NBC Sports Gold and IMSA Radio. A three-hour NBCSN broadcast will air at 7 p.m. ET.

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