Olivier Pla put the No. 60 Honda P2 on the pole for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Photo by Richard Dole LAT Photo USA
Olivier Pla followed up Michael Shank Racing’s dominance of practice at Road Atlanta, capturing the TOTAL Pole Award for Saturday’s 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Petit Le Mans.
Pla ran a lap of 1:13.061 (125.1 mph) on the 2.54-mile circuit in the No. 60 Curb Records/AERO Honda Ligier JS P2 co-driven by Ozz Negri and John Pew. The team had led all four of the weekend’s practice sessions prior to Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session.
“From the beginning, the team has done a great job,” said Pla, who won the pole for the team earlier this season for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. “They gave me a very competitive car and we kept improving each time. I was expecting that more or less. The other things will come tomorrow. It will be a real possibility for the win. We have nothing to lose, we want to put on a good show for the fans, so we will go for it.”
Tristan Nunez will join Pla on the outside of the front row after running a best lap of 1:13.520 (124.3 mph) in the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Castrol/ModSpace Mazda Prototype co-driven by Jonathan Bomarito and Spencer Pigot.
Dan Cameron qualified third with a lap of 1:13.903 (123.7 mph) in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Whelen Engineering Corvette Daytona Prototype co-driven by Eric Curran and 2016 IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud. Cameron and Curran enter the finale with a one-point lead over Action Express Racing teammates Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, 285-284. Fittipaldi qualified fifth.
Alon Wins Fourth PC Pole Of Season For PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports
Robert Alon won his fourth TOTAL Pole Award of the season in the Prototype Challenge (PC) class, running a lap of 1:16.411 (119.6 mph) in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Prisma/Professional Security Consultants/ Westfield ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Tom Kimber-Smith and Jose Gutierrez.
“Honestly I think we had a really good car,” said Alon, a two-time winner in 2016 PC competition. “All I had to do was put my head down and do what I had to do – and the car did the rest. It definitely started getting greasy out there about halfway through the run. I think the fast lap was somewhere in the middle of my session, so that’s probably why it was so fast.”
Alon survived a late charge by Alex Popow, who ran 1:16.470 (119.5 mph), missing the pole by 0.059 seconds. Popow enters the finale sharing the PC points lead with Renger van der Zande in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA. David Heinemeier Hansson will co-drive this weekend. They lead Alon and Kimber-Smith by 10 points, 329-319.
“It was great qualifying – it’s a shame,” Popow said. “I’ve never felt so sad for second place. The last lap was going to be our lap, but I made a mistake in turn five. That took us out of contention for pole.”
Ford GT Captures Petit Le Mans GTLM Pole
Two GT Le Mans (GTLM) poles in 2016 just weren’t enough, so Richard Westbrook made it three during Friday’s qualifying at Road Atlanta.
Regular use of this herbal pill two times purchase viagra aimhousepatong.com will help to increase sexual power and stamina without any fear of side effects. Looking soft viagra pills http://aimhousepatong.com/item8772.html and feeling older isn’t necessarily due to aging. In the study, the patients who received chiropractic an average of twice a week for one month, had longer lasting levels of improvementthan those who were not, even if they lost weight later in their life. try that pharmacy store purchase viagra And the whole body will be uncomfortable and come out gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting. viagra uk delivery http://aimhousepatong.com/item7476.html The Brit secured his trifecta thanks to a record-setting lap of 1:18.131 (117.0 mph) around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT during the 15-minute qualifying session.
The third pole for Westbrook was the fifth of the year for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, with co-driver Ryan Briscoe taking the pole at Circuit of The Americas and Dirk Mueller putting the team’s Le Mans-winning No. 66 entry on the pole at Road America earlier in the year.
Westbrook and Briscoe, joined by four-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, head into the finale trailing GTLM points leaders Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner by 11 points, 314-303, with only 10 hours of racing remaining. Milner, who will also be joined by Marcel Fassler, struggled in qualifying, taking seventh on the GTLM grid in the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
“It’s a show of intention, how we’re going to attack the race, and we’re just going to try to keep it at the front,” Westbrook said. “It’s all we can do. At Petit Le Mans, you can have a good car during the day but all that matters is what you have at night. (The championship) is a longshot, but it’s our intention to keep our car at the front and give us the best chance of winning. But honestly, whoever wins the championship, they thoroughly deserved it. It’s been a great fight with the No. 4 car all year and we’re going to try to take it to the end.”
Starting second in GTLM will be the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the hands of Antonio Garcia. The Spaniard posted a time of 118.283 (116.8 mph). He and co-drivers Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller enter the race looking for a second victory of the season for the No. 3 car.
Toni Vilander qualified third in GTLM with a best lap of 118.294 (116.7 mph) in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. He and co-driver Giancarlo Fisichella, also joined by James Calado, are looking for their first victory of the season.
Bleekemolen Captures TOTAL Pole Award For Viper’s Final Race
When it comes to qualifying, Jeroen Bleekemolen saved the best for last, as the driver from the Netherlands gave the GTD TOTAL Pole Award to both himself and Riley Motorsports for the final race of the year.
Bleekemolen posted a record-breaking lap of 1:21.305 (112.4 mph) in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports ViperExchange.com / Cruising with the Monkey Dodge Viper GT3-R he will share with co-drivers Ben Keating and Marc Miller.
“It was good to give the Viper a great farewell in its last qualifying session for an international sports car race,” Bleekemolen said. “It wasn’t the toughest qualifying I’ve done. The car was great. I just kept pushing on the car. I pulled out a good lap and now we can focus on tomorrow’s race.”
Bleekemolen and Keating enter the finale second in the standings and mathematically eligible for the title. Scuderia Corsa’s Christina Nielsen and Alessando Balzan hold a 32-point lead over the Viper drivers (299-267), and clinch the championship when Nielsen drives the required three hours necessary to score points. Nielsen qualified fourth in the No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3.
Porsches took the next two positions. Matt McMurry will start second after a lap of 1:21.765 (111.8 mph) in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister and 2015 Petit Le Mans GTD winner Patrick Lindsey. Mario Farnbacher will start third, with a lap of 1:21.898 (111.6 mph) in the No. 23 Alex Job Racing/Team Seattle Porsche co-driver by Alex Riberas and Ian James.
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