Yelloly Gives Acura MSR Third Straight Pole at Road America

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Nick Yelloly gave Acura Meyer Shank Racing its third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole ahead of Sunday’s Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America.

Yelloly reeled off a chart-topping 1:48.628 in his No. 93 Acura ARX-06 to edge out the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde by 0.053 seconds.

It marked the Englishman’s second pole of the season after taking top qualifying honors on the streets of Detroit.

His co-driver Renger van der Zande took pole in car for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

Dries Vanthoor made it two BMWs in the top-three aboard the No. 24 entry, ahead of the No. 60 Acura of Colin Braun, who was fourth quickest.

The No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell completed the top-five, ahead of Jack Aitken, who was the quickest Cadillac V-Series.R in sixth aboard the No. 31 Action Express Racing entry.

Filipe Albuquerque qualified seventh in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, with Felipe Nasr, Jordan Taylor and Ross Gunn completing the top-ten.

The No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni had an off-course moment in Turn 3 early in the 15-minute session but rebounded to set the 11th quickest time overall and in class.

PJ Hyett scored his third consecutive LMP2 pole, storming to a 1:53.240 lap time in the No. 99 AO Racing Oreca 07 Gibson that was 0.666 seconds quicker than second-placed George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry.

It marked Hyett’s second consecutive pole at the four-mile Wisconsin track.

Championship leader Daniel Goldberg was third quickest in the No. 22 United Autosports entry, with Tonis Kasemets, in his LMP2 debut, qualifying an impressive fourth in class in his Team Tonis entry.

Altoe Takes GTD Pro Pole; Ward Goes Quickest Outright in GT

DragonSpeed claimed its third GTD Pro pole of the season, with Giacomo Altoe reeling off a best time of 2:03.904 in his No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3.

It was 0.010 seconds quicker than the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, who will start second in class.

Altoe claimed his second class pole of the season after taking top qualifying honors at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Corvette by Pratt Miller’s Tommy Milner was third quickest in class, with the two Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs of Dan Harper and Madison Snow completed the top-five.

GTD pole honors went to the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward, thanks to a 2:03.745 lap time that was quicker than Altoe’s GTD Pro pole-winning lap.

As is now the case this season, the entire GTD Pro class will be gridded ahead of the GTD category entries for tomorrow’s two-hour and 40-minute race.

Ward, who along with co-driver Philip Ellis lead the GTD championship, edged out the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Casper Stevenson by 0.163 seconds.

It marked Ward’s fourth career pole and first of the season and the tenth straight different pole winner in class.

Onofrio Triarsi will start third in class in his No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, ahead of Robert Wickens’ No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette in fourth.

The Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America gets underway Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CST with live coverage on Peacock as well as IMSA’s YouTube channel for international viewers.

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