Altoè Puts the “Speed” in DragonSpeed Ferrari at Road America

Something about Road America suits Giacomo Altoè. The winner of the Grand Touring Pro (GTD PRO) class race last year at Road America, Altoè won the GTD PRO pole position Saturday for the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix.

The battle for the Motul Pole Award was exceedingly close, spurred by intense challenges from two Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.

Altoè’s lap of 2 minutes, 3.904 seconds (117.613 mph) in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 topped Alexander Sims’ best lap in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R by just 0.01 of a second. Tommy Milner was just 0.01 of a second behind Sims in the sister No. 4 Corvette.

Altoè will lead the class to the green flag in the car he co-drives with Albert Costa. Last year, Altoè teamed with Daniel Serra to win in a Ferrari 296 GT3 with Conquest Racing. Road America's 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit has become special to the 24-year-old Italian.

“Since the very first time I came here, I felt comfortable with it,” Altoè said. “It’s for sure not an easy track. It’s not automatic that you come here and you are fast, but I just find myself comfortable. I can reach the limit pretty quickly.”

The flowing, high-speed layout provides both a challenge and an opportunity, Altoè explained.

"I can extract the best out of me and out of the car," he said. "Once again, today I tried my best and it worked out. I'm very happy about this pole position. It's for sure a good starting position for tomorrow. ... (But) in IMSA, it's really close racing, so you can never relax."

Costa, the lone full-season driver in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari, entered the weekend 53 points back of Sims and Antonio Garcia in third place. Second-placed AO Racing with its No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) will roll from seventh in GTD PRO and started the weekend 39 in arrears.

Ward Continues GTD Pole Parity

In GTD, Russell Ward thought he’d found all the speed from the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 he co-drives with Philip Ellis, but then he found more.

Ward recorded a lap of 2:03.888, then followed it with a 2:03.475 (117.764 mph) – fastest among all GTD qualifiers – and enough to beat the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo driven by Casper Stevenson by 0.163 seconds among GTD entries. Ward is the 10th different driver in a row to win a GTD class pole.

“That’s the fastest lap by six or seven tenths that we’ve ever done (at Road America),” Ward said. “I don’t think anyone can go faster.”

Entering the weekend, the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG leads the standings over the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 co-driven by Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson by 93 points. Thompson qualified fifth fastest.

“Just keep it clean and let the race come to us,” Ward said. “It’s a pretty long race – two hours and 40 minutes – and a lot can happen. We’re starting in a really good position, but we’ve got the back end of the GTD PRO field up front. As we’ve seen in past races, sometimes they don’t have it. Sometimes the GTD field does.”

Stevenson’s lap held up for the second starting position in GTD in the No. 27 he co-drives with Tom Gamble. Onofrio Triarsi will start third in the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 he co-drives with Kenton Koch.

As the GTD field starts behind the GTD PRO field, Ward noted posting the fastest qualifying lap among both classes will make for an interesting start to Sunday’s race.

“Sometimes the difference between GTD and GTD PRO is pretty close, especially when it comes to the front of the GTD field and the back of the GTD PRO field,” he said. “They definitely don’t want to let you by, which can influence the race a little bit behind you. I’m just hoping we can get into a rhythm and continue to go racing.”

Results are HERE