Aitken, Cadillac Awarded Indy Pole After Blomqvist, Acura Qualifying DQ

By Dennis Krause

Cadillac Racing heads into Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway holding down the top three starting positions in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP).

Jack Aitken, co-driver of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R was awarded the pole after the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 driven by Tom Blomqvist was penalized after post-qualifying inspection revealed the car failed to comply with LMDh bodywork tolerances. Instead, the Acura will lose its qualifying times and start from the rear of the GTP field in Sunday’s race.

It’s the first pole for Cadillac in 2025 and the first for the brand since the 2024 Motul Petit Le Mans, where Jack Aitken scored his first WeatherTech Championship pole. Aitken, who’d unofficially qualified second, will move to the front of the field with a best time of 1 minute, 14.610 seconds (117.683 mph). Aitken will share the car with teammates Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.

“I’m pretty pleased. I think all the Cadillacs showed pretty well,” Aitken said. “We had an OK practice, but it wasn't entirely smooth. The nature of having so many cars on track here means getting clean laps, which was quite difficult. I think we’re in a good place. I'm pleased that we've come out today with a strong car and clean qualifying session, and I think a strong car for tomorrow.”

The No. 40 WTR Cadillac of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz will start second ahead of the No. 10 WTR Cadillac of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.

Something about qualifying at Indy seems to agree with Nick Boulle, who took his second career pole in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) with a lap of 1:17.846 in his No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07. Boulle’s first pole came a year ago at Indy.

“We've had a bit of a rough year,” said Boulle, “so it feels good to bring something with a 1 back to the team.

“I think it's this place. It’s really fun to hustle a P2 car around. We go to a lot of different tracks that are high speed, and this place kind of demands something different. You drive the car a little bit differently, and it's really rewarding. So happy to be here and starting up front.”

Dan Harper won his first career pole in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) PRO. His lap of 1:23.259 in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO was the 25th for the team, and the second for the team at Indianapolis.

"Always nice to get that first one, the monkey off your back,” said Harper. “It's something I've been targeting all season. We did it in the 48 crew. We decided that I would do all the qualifyings this year to allow me to fully focus on that task on the weekend and give [teammate] Max [Hesse] the job of bringing it home at the end of the race.

“Unfortunately, Neil [Verhagen, co-driver of the No. 1 team BMW] got one before me, but finally it was nice to get it, and the team have done a mega job just putting it all together. The car has been fast all season, and very nice feeling.”

In GTD, Casper Stevenson also scored his first career pole with a lap at 1:23.088 in the No 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, and is the sixth different driver to win the class pole in the last six races.

“I'm really please,” said Stevenson. “I think the car has been capable all year. So to finally put it together and get the pole was really good.

“I think it's going to be a tough race tomorrow. I think the Aston is really good in qually, but I think others will be strong in the race as well.

“Yeah, just try and execute. Two great teammates at the end, and I think we can be up there.”

Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks starts at 11:40 a.m. ET.

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

Aitken, Cadillac Awarded Indy Pole After Blomqvist, Acura Qualifying DQ

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