Taylor Takes Back-to-Back Watkins Glen Poles

Photo: IMSA

Ricky Taylor has claimed back-to-back Watkins Glen poles with the Wayne Taylor Racing driver earning top qualifying honors for Friday’s WeatherTech 240.

Taylor stormed to a quick lap of 1:30.356 in his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 to edge out the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi of Olivier Pla by 0.346 seconds.

It marked another front row sweep for Acura, with Taylor becoming the all-time leader in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole positions.

Kevin Magnussen qualified the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R in third ahead of Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Action Express Racingi in fourth with Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen winner Harry Tincknell completing the top-five.

It came despite Tincknell pulling off-course after an advertising banner got stuck to the nose of his Multimatic-run Mazda.

Keating, Llarena, Taylor Score Class Poles

LMP2 pole honors went to Ben Keating, who in a role reversal from last week, laid down a late flyer to deny Steven Thomas his second consecutive pole at The Glen.

Keating’s 1:34.969 in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson edged out Thomas by 0.423 seconds.

Mateo Llarena scored his first career LMP3 pole, out running Jon Bennett for top qualifying honors in his No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Jordan Taylor, meanwhile, took the top spot in GT Le Mans qualifying in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, in another Corvette Racing sweep of the front row.

Taylor’s 1:43.821 lap was 0.224 seconds faster than teammate Nick Tandy.

Cooper MacNeil, in the only other GTLM entry this weekend, was mired down in the running order in GT Daytona after appearing to struggle in the drying conditions while on Michelin slicks in his WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19.

Snow on Pole; Hawksworth Quickest in GTD

Madison Snow captured pole position in GTD while Jack Hawksworth ended up quickest of the cars in Q2.

Snow reeled off a best lap of 1:59.380 in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo to edge out the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo by 0.440 seconds.

Snow qualified on pole utilizing wet-weather Michelin tires in the session that saw teams opt for different tire strategies while on a drying track.

It marked Snow’s first WeatherTech Championship pole since 2017.

Richard Heistand will start third in the No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.

Hawksworth’s 1:46.988 lap — coming on Michelin slicks — outpaced the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen by 0.514 seconds.

It came despite an early session spin and contact with the barriers for IMSA’s most winningest driver.

The WeatherTech 240 gets underway Friday at 6 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBCSN and IMSA Radio.

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