It’s Acura vs. BMW In IMSA Qualifying At Road America
(All Photos courtesy of IMSA/Michael L. Levitt/Lumen Digital Agency)
By Dennis Krause
Practice form suggested qualifying would come down to an Acura - BMW battle for the pole position for Sunday’s Motul Sports Car Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake’s Road America. That form held as both manufacturers locked out the first two rows for the 2-hour, 40-minute sprint race, separated by less than one-tenth of a second.
Nick Yelloly scored his second career IMSA Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) pole with a lap of 1-minute, 48.628-seconds in his No.93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-07. With the times as close they are, Yelloy feels starting up front is going to be important for the race.
“I think here is generally a bit of a track position race,” said Yelloly. “We saw that last year and the year before, so being able to start from the front row, I think is a good way to try and be able to control the race if we want to. Obviously, the margin was super tight.
“I think we knew that was going to be the case after FP (free practice) 2 with the BMW being really close, or really close to the BMW. But yeah, happy that it results on the pole.
“I think we have a good race car. I would say we've been working solidly for nine months to get to this this stage, and step by step, we've been getting closer and closer, both us drivers, utilizing all the tools that the car has, and working with our engineers, of course, because it's a very new program to us all, I think it's starting to show off all the hard work over the winter.”
Given the battle with the BMWs, winning the pole was even sweeter for the 34-year-old Stafford, United Kingdom driver.
“We knew it was going to be very close. It was about who was going to execute and put the cleanest lap together. And I think we were able to do that. I think my lap is as clean as it could be. I was tracking a little bit faster on the next lap, I made a small mistake, so I'm glad it was good enough for the pole. And yeah, like I said, the best place to start is clearly pole position around here with the high speed nature of the track and dealing with the traffic. So we did our job today, but still our race tomorrow.”
Yelloly was just .053-seconds faster than Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 fielded by BMW M Team RLL. The No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor and Colin Braun in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian make up row 2.
In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), P.J. Hyett scored his third straight series pole with a lap of 1:53.240 in the No. 99 ORECA LMP2 O7 - Gibson. The co-owner of AO Racing, said the Road America race weekend is a big deal for the St. Charles, Illinois-based team.
“We had so many fans come to the autograph extravaganza, or whatever we were calling it today, explained Hyett. “You just don't want to let them down, all those little kids running around with “Rexy” and “Spike” shirts and plushies and everything else, just to be able to put the car on pole for all those fans, and the team is just wonderful.
“So you hear all these stories of people that never cared about sports car racing,” Hyett continued, “but their kids were like, Hey, there's cool stuff on TV now, and there's dinosaurs and dragons (represented on the cars), and let's go check this out. And so for us to have that sort of excitement with the sport, for the locals, also, it's nothing but good times for us.”
Two-thirds of a second faster than second place qualifier George Kurtz, Hyett thought his next lap would’ve been even stronger.
“Road America is, bar none, of my favorite track in the States,” enthused the bronze rated driver. “I think it's an absolutely wonderful track. It happens to be close to home, but it is just phenomenal. It's got a little bit of everything, and driving a P2 around it is heavenly. So for me, that lap, yeah, I think I could have gone faster, but I'm so proud of that lap. It was a great lap.
“But, I use the pros that I drive with as the benchmark,” countered Hyett, “and I want to be just as fast as those guys, so I'm not content unless I get awful close to them. Tomorrow, it's a different sort of mindset to make sure the car stays in one piece as opposed to a 15 minute qualy session. But yeah, it's an absolute dream driving an LMP2 on this racetrack. I just love being here.”
In a testament of how well Balance of Performance works in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro GTD PRO) category, the last ten races have featured ten different winners - until Saturday afternoon when Giacomo Altoe claimed his second pole of the season pole in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3.
Having won last year’s race at Road America, also in a Ferrari for Conquest Racing, there must be something about the circuit that Altoe loves.
“Yeah, exactly. I mean, it feels a good track to me. I can extract the best out of me and out of the car. So once again, today, I tried my best, and it worked out. So I'm very happy about this position. It's for sure a good starting position for tomorrow. Will be a bit easier to start in front of the GT field and try to manage from there.
“But you know, it's really close racing, so you can never relax. You need to push every time, and you have the right strategy. So the whole team have to work together to get the result that we want. So we just stay focused, we keep working, and we go ahead.”
While Altoe’s time of 2:03.904 was the quickest in the GTD PRO class, it wasn’t better than the time put in by Russell Ward in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD). The driver of the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO put in a nearly perfect lap of 2:03.245 to win his first pole of the season, having qualified second on three occasions earlier this year.
“Honestly, the car felt great,” said Ward, “and the guys did an amazing job together. We did some testing here two weeks ago, which I think set the team up for a good result here at Road America and just went out there and put my head down and gave it everything I had.”
Ward was the tenth different pole winner in GTD this year. The GTD field is extremely balanced with the top seven qualifiers in the class separated by less than a second and six manufacturers represented in that top seven. But the closeness of the two GT classes can make for a tricky start to tomorrow’s race.
“The field between the GTD and GTD PRO sometimes, is pretty close,” noted Ward, “especially when it when it comes to the front of the GTD field and the back of the GTD PRO field. So, you know, they definitely don't want to let you by which can influence the race a little bit behind you. Just hoping we can get into a rhythm and just continue to go racing.”
Sunday’s Motul Sports Car Grand Prix at Road America gets the green flag at 1:10 PM (CT).
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.