Purple Sector 1: Blomqvist Speeds To Motul Petit Le Mans Pole

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta is a driver’s dream, with high-speed corners that test a driver’s courage and risk/reward balance.

Tom Blomqvist blazed to the Motul Pole Award for the 28th annual Motul Le Mans by 0.199 of a second on Friday, and timing screens showed all of that advantage was earned in the short, 8-second sector that begins the 2.54-mile lap from the start/finish line through Road Atlanta’s treacherous Turn 1. Or, in Blomqvist’s case, just 7.978 seconds.

That purple – or fastest – first sector netted Blomqvist a lap of 1 minute, 9.628 seconds (131.326 mph) established a Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class record at the track. Acura has broken a tie with Cadillac with 10 poles to date in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s three-year modern GTP era.

Blomqvist’s confidence negotiating Turn 1 was rewarded with the sixth pole of his IMSA career and put him and co-drivers Colin Braun and Scott Dixon in the best possible position to start Saturday’s 10-hour race.

“This track rewards commitment and bravery and I really enjoy driving it,” Blomqvist said. “I love qualifying, especially here, because it’s a small track and there’s a lot of traffic out there in practice. It’s such a thrill when you take the fuel out of the car, no traffic to worry about, new tires that you can properly warm up. Then you just kind of hold on.

“Our car is generally pretty friendly, and I’ve had a lot of confidence and been good through that sector all weekend,” he added. “You’ve just got to trust that the car is going to stick – you carry a lot of speed into the corner and hope you come out the other side.”

The practice pace-setting No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R qualified on the outside of the front row in the hands of Jack Aitken, who will be joined Saturday by Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. Nick Yelloly (co-drivers Renger van der Zande and Tristian Vautier) also demonstrated Acura’s single-lap speed by qualifying third fastest, the last car under the 1 minute, 10-second barrier.

GTP points leaders Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, who are paired at Road Atlanta with Julien Andlauer, qualified the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 sixth, two places behind their teammates Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr, and Laurens Vanthoor in PPM’s No. 7 entry. The Porsches split the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie, with Ross Gunn’s P5 effort representing Aston Martin’s best GTP qualifying performance to date.

Among drivers, Jaminet and Campbell and the No. 6 Porsche enter the season finale with a 128-point cushion over their No. 7 teammates Nasr and Tandy, down from 131 before qualifying.

With Acura’s full-time driver pairings fourth and seventh in the standings, their goals Saturday will be a race win and a manufacturer’s championship for Acura.  The 35 qualifying points move Acura to within two points of Porsche for the manufacturer’s championship. 

“Today was only one small portion of the job we need to do this weekend,” Blomqvist said. “It’s a nice thing for all our egos in the team and we’re going to sleep a little bit better than if we were down the back. But tomorrow is the day when we need to get the job done.”

LMP2: Inter Europol Inherits Top Spot in Qualifying

The IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup leaders in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) will have the best starting position for their attempt to secure a championship-within-a-championship.

Inter Europol Competition initially was set to start second, with Jeremy Clarke qualifying the No. 43 ORECA LMP2 07 he shares with Tom Dillmann and Bijoy Garg.

However, post-qualifying technical inspection revealed that the No. 11 entry driven by Steven Thomas was found to have bodywork mass beyond a permitted homologated limit. Therefore, the car was moved from the pole position to the rear of the LMP2 field.

Clarke’s lap of 1 minute, 13.397 seconds (124.582 mph) sees the first-year WeatherTech Championship driver claiming his first Motul Pole Award. The subsequent runners behind move up, including both LMP2 championship contenders.

LMP2 championship leader PJ Hyett will start second in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 he shares with Dane Cameron and Jonny Edgar. The car set a lap quick enough for pole, but lost it due to causing a red flag in a Thursday practice session.

The championship rival No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA, qualified by Daniel Goldburg and shared by Paul Di Resta and Rasmus Lindh, now move up to third.

Entering the weekend, Hyett led Goldburg by 85 points and post-qualifying, that gap is now 87 points.

Results are HERE