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Qualifying report

Road America IMSA: Cameron shatters DPi lap record to win pole

Dane Cameron claimed IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole position for Acura Team Penske at Road America with a 1min48.715sec lap that cut more than two seconds from the track's DPi record.

DPI Motul Pole Award Winner #6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi, DPi: Dane Cameron

DPI Motul Pole Award Winner #6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi, DPi: Dane Cameron

Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Oliver Jarvis performed superbly for Mazda Team Joest to split the Acura ARX-05s before the session was interrupted by a red flag caused by Matt McMurry dropping his P2 car into a sandtrap.

However, when action resumed and Helio Castroneves went out for the final five minutes, the Brazilian veteran was a man on a mission, and his last effort drew him to within 0.016sec of Cameron to complete an Acura Team Penske front row.

Jonathan Bomarito was not so successful in finding a clean lap in the second Mazda and was disappointed to wind up 0.4sec off teammate Jarvis, but it was still quick enough for fourth.

Simon Trummer earned the honor of being quickest Cadillac DPi-V.R driver in JDC Miller Motorsports' #84 entry but he was 1.2sec off the ultimate pace, albeit 0.2sec ahead of Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani.

A brief and mild rain shower between the abbreviated GTD session and the GT Le Mans session left some localized damp patches, one of which sent Jan Magnussen’s #3 Corvette C7.R skating on at the final corner, although he dug himself out without assistance.

Magnussen’s teammate Oliver Gavin was the first driver to eclipse the GT Daytona times, and it took until his third lap to do so. Thereafter the track started drying rapidly, Patrick Pilet’s #912 Porsche took a turn at the top but then Tom Blomqvist’s #25 BMW M8 set a new GTLM lap record at 2min00.344sec to go P1. He then pitted.

Gavin looked like he was going to be Blomqvist’s closest challenger, 0.319sec behind; then Ryan Briscoe completed a strong lap in the final seconds to beat Gavin by 0.005sec, but the former IndyCar driver was adjudged to have exceeded track limits at Turn 1 and his lap was invalidated. 

Thus Briscoe was relegated to fourth, where he’ll start alongside the second BMW of Jesse Krohn, who was some 0.4sec slower than his teammate.

Dirk Muller (Ford) and Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 911 RSR) comprise third row, while Magnussen and Pilet wound up seventh and eighth respectively.

Two-time Road America winner Ben Keating earned his first pole position in GTD, although the last five minutes of the session were chopped off due to lightning in the area halting the session early.

Nonetheless, given the pace of the Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG-GT3 all weekend, it seems unlikely that anyone was going to topple him. He was four-tenths clear of the rest of the field, led by Corey Lewis in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan, who just edged Matt Plumb’s Compass Racing McLaren 720S by 0.06sec mere nanoseconds before the red flag.

Zacharie Robichon’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R grabbed fifth ahead of Trent Hindman’s Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX and Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsports BMW M6.

Richard Heistand made it seven different cars in the top seven spots, the #14 Lexus RC F of AIM Vasser Sullivan beating Ana Beatriz’s Acura by just 0.001sec.

Tomorrow’s 20min warm-up session starts at 8.30am local (Central) time, with the race getting the green flag at 1.35pm.

UPDATE: Both BMW M8s were sent to the back of the GTLM grid after ride height infractions were discovered in post-session scrutineering checks.

It means the #4 Corvette inherits class pole, ahead of the two Ford GTs and the #912 Porsche.

Session results:

Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Time Gap
1 6 United States Dane Cameron
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
DPi Acura DPi 1'48.715
2 7 United States Ricky Taylor
Brazil Helio Castroneves
DPi Acura DPi 1'48.731 0.016
3 77 United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Tristan Nunez
DPi Mazda DPi 1'48.949 0.234
4 55 United States Jonathan Bomarito
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
DPi Mazda DPi 1'49.381 0.666
5 84 Switzerland Simon Trummer
South Africa Stephen Simpson
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'49.911 1.196
6 31 Brazil Felipe Nasr
Brazil Pipo Derani
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'50.111 1.396
7 5 Portugal Joao Barbosa
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'50.783 2.068
8 10 Netherlands Renger van der Zande
United States Jordan Taylor
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'50.799 2.084
9 85 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
France Tristan Vautier
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'51.251 2.536
10 54 United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
DPi Nissan DPi 1'51.257 2.542
11 38 Canada Cameron Cassels
United States James French
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 1'52.037 3.322
12 52 United States Matt McMurry
Patrick Kelly
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 1'53.264 4.549
13 25 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United States Connor de Phillippi
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 2'00.344 11.629
14 4 United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner
GTLM Corvette C7.R 2'00.663 11.948
15 24 Finland Jesse Krohn
United States John Edwards
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 2'00.767 12.052
16 67 Australia Ryan Briscoe
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
GTLM Ford GT 2'00.835 12.120
17 66 United States Joey Hand
Germany Dirk Muller
GTLM Ford GT 2'00.922 12.207
18 912 New Zealand Earl Bamber
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 2'01.038 12.323
19 3 Denmark Jan Magnussen
Spain Antonio Garcia
GTLM Corvette C7.R 2'01.085 12.370
20 911 France Patrick Pilet
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 2'01.836 13.121
21 33 United States Ben Keating
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'05.250 16.535
22 48 United States Bryan Sellers
United States Corey Lewis
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'05.663 16.948
23 76 United States Paul Holton
United States Matt Plumb
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 2'05.723 17.008
24 9 Australia Matt Campbell
Canada Zacharie Robichon
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'05.890 17.175
25 86 Germany Mario Farnbacher
United States Trent Hindman
GTD Acura NSX GT3 2'06.028 17.313
26 96 United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley
GTD BMW M6 GT3 2'06.105 17.390
27 14 United States Richard Heistand
United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 2'06.425 17.710
28 57 United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Brazil Ana Beatriz
GTD Acura NSX GT3 2'06.426 17.711
29 91 United States Anthony Imperato
Norway Dennis Olsen
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'06.432 17.717
30 63 United States Cooper MacNeil
Finland Toni Vilander
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 2'06.537 17.822
31 73 United States Patrick Lindsey
United States Patrick Long
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'06.886 18.171
32 44 United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'07.509 18.794
33 8 United States Parker Chase
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'08.156 19.441
34 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Townsend Bell
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 2'08.289 19.574
35 74 United States Gar Robinson
United States Lawson Aschenbach
GTD Mercedes-AMG 2'08.392 19.677

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