Nick Yelloly delivered when it mattered most at Road America, putting the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 on pole for tomorrow’s IMSA Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix.
Yelloly’s best lap of 1m49.233s secured the No. 93 Acura’s third pole of the season and dilivered back-to-back poles for he, and Acura.
The sister No. 60 MSR Acura came closest to denying Yelloly the top spot, with Tom Blomqvist continuing to improve throughout the session. Blomqvist eventually settled on a 1m49.390s, good enough for second place and an all-Acura front row.
Behind the two Acuras, Sheldon van der Linde put the Spider-Man-liveried No. 24 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 third with a 1m49.597s. Louis Delétraz followed closely in fourth, setting a 1m49.613s in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R.
Laurens Vanthoor completed the top five in the Sunoco 917/30-inspired No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, ahead of championship leader Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
The rest of the GTP order saw Ross Gunn qualify eighth in the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, with Felipe Nasr ninth in the DHL RS Spyder-liveried No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. The class was rounded out by Marco Wittmann in the No. 25 BMW M Team WRT entry and Kaylen Frederick in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Mustang Sampling Porsche 963.
Goldburg Takes LMP2 Pole for United Autosports
In LMP2, Daniel Goldburg claimed his first pole of the season for United Autosports USA, putting the No. 22 ORECA 07-Gibson at the head of the class.
The session ran without any incidents, and the fight for pole remained close until the final five minutes. Goldburg produced a 1m54.212s, enough to move clear of the field by just over a quarter of a second and achieve his first IMSA pole since the Rolex 24 at Daytona last year.
Misha Goikhberg qualified second in the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, setting a 1m54.474s. He will start ahead of CTMP Winner Jeremy Clarke in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA and last year’s Road America P2 winner, PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA.
Championship leader George Kurtz qualified fifth in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA 07-Gibson, despite losing his fastest lap after causing a red flag during morning practice.
King Delivers First IMSA Pole With Rexy
The GTD Pro fight came down to the closing minutes, where Harry King delivered a standout lap to take Rexy to pole at Road America!
King’s pole was the first of his IMSA career and the first for AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche since the 2024 Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Early in the session, Klaus Bachler looked to have the advantage in the No. 911 Manthey “Grello” Porsche 911 GT3 R. However, his fastest lap, a 2m04.283s, was deleted for track limits, which forced the Austrian driver to fall back on a 2m04.308s, which ultimately left him fifth on the grid.
With less than three minutes remaining, King moved to provisional pole with a 2m04.265s. Then, on his final flying lap, he went even quicker, setting a 2m04.042s to secure the top spot.
Defending Road America class winner and current GTD Pro points leader Neil Verhagen qualified second in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO with a 2m04.182s. Alexander Sims placed the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R third, with Max Esterson fourth in the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
Vasser Sullivan Racing was able to get its backup Lexus chassis ready in time for Jack Hawksworth to take part in qualifying after the 2023 GTD Pro champ had a big crash in Practice 2. Althought, the No. 14 car was handed a mechanical black flag shortly after heading out, meaning that it will start from the rear of the GTD Pro field.
Wadoux Makes IMSA History in GTD
In GTD, Lilou Wadoux made history by taking her first career IMSA pole position in the No. 21 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.
The result marked the first pole of the season for the AF Corse Ferrari and made Wadoux the first woman to take pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since IndyCar racer Katherine Legge took pole at Laguna Seca back in 2018.
Wadoux set a 2m04.688s to move to the top of the class. The 2026 12 Hours of Sebring winner, later reflected on how meaningful the result felt, especially after a difficult Watkins Glen weekend and with AF Corse bringing a new car to Road America.
Russell Ward initially looked set to challenge near the front in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO which secured the win last time out in Canada, but his 2m04.753s was deleted for failing to follow controlled powertrain parameters which dropped the Winward AMG GT3 to sixth in GTD.
As a result, Zacharie Robichon moved up to second in the championship leading No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. He will start just ahead of Valentin Hasse-Clot in the No. 068 CarBlanche Aston Martin, with only 0.002s separating the two Vantage GT3 Evos.
Casper Stevenson qualified fourth in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, while Patrick Gallagher completed the top five in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Notably, The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche failed to set a representative time with Adam Adelson after receiving a mechanical black flag during the 15-minute GTD session.
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