Taylor on CTMP Pole

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Ricky Taylor will start Sunday’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix from the pole following a hard-fought qualifying session for the seventh round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Taylor reeled off a 1:08.459 lap time in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R for his third pole of the season and first since Circuit of The Americas in May.

He edged out the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Mikhail Goikhberg by 0.128 seconds.

Goikhberg, who is coming off the team’s first podium finish last weekend at Watkins Glen, qualified an impressive second overall in the LMP2 car.

The No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi of Scott Sharp was third, with teammate Johannes van Overbeek set to roll off from fourth on the grid in tomorrow’s two-hour and 40-minute race.

Jonathan Bomarito completed the top-five in the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P, ahead of Watkins Glen race winner Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 5 Action Express Cadillac.

James French, meanwhile, scored his fifth pole in six races in Prototype Challenge, taking his No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 to a fast time of 1:11.471.

French’s lap was a considerable 1.723 seconds quicker than Garret Grist in the No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry in second.

The Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix gets underway Sunday at 12 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FS1.

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