Van Overbeek, ESM on Pole for 6H Watkins Glen

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Johannes van Overbeek will start tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from the overall pole, after taking his Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda to the top spot in qualifying Saturday at Watkins Glen.

Van Overbeek fired off a series of fast laps in the closing moments of the 15-minute Prototype session, with a 1:35.207 lap — a new track qualifying record — good enough to edge out a late charge from Tristan Nunez.

It marked the first pole of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season for the Scott Sharp-owned ESM squad, which heads into the third round of the Tequia Patron North American Endurance Cup on the heels of victories at Daytona and Sebring.

Van Overbeek will share driving duties in Sunday’s race with Sharp and Brazilian sensation Pipo Derani.

Nunez put the No. 55 Mazda Prototype on the front row, thanks to a 1:35.374 lap time set on his final lap in the retro-liveried entry that has shown potential all weekend.

Ozz Negri, meanwhile, made it three P2 cars in the top-three in his No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda.

Ricky Taylor qualified his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP fourth, more than a half-second behind, with the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Christian Fittipaldi completing the top-five.

Renger van der Zande claimed his first career WeatherTech Championship class pole in dominant fashion in Prototype Challenge.

The Starworks Motorsport driver reeled off a best lap of 1:38.407 in his No. 8 Oreca FLM09 on the final lap, outpacing the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry of Robert Alon by 0.804 seconds.

Van der Zande, who has one ALMS pole to his credit from 2013, will share the Starworks entry with Alex Popow tomorrow, as they seek back-to-back class victories.

The No. 38 Performance Tech entry of James French qualified third, with Johnny Mowlem (BAR1 Motorsports) and Misha Goikhberg (JDC-Miller Motorsports) completing the top-five in class.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is set for Sunday at 10:10 a.m. ET with live coverage on FOX Sports 1.

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