Ricky Taylor made it two pole positions in two weeks for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05c in the IMSA WeatherTech 240 at Watkins Glen on Thursday. Taylor was leading Olivier Pla in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05c by just 0.05s, but the American improved on his final and set a time of 1m30.058s to secure pole.
Pla ended the session 0.346s behind Taylor with the No. 60 Acura setting a time of 1m30.404s that, like last weekend, will leave them on the outside of the front row. Kevin Magnussen in the No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing DPi-V.R. was third with a time of 1m30.545s.
The No. 3 Corvette C8.R of Jordan Taylor bested Nick Tandy in the No. 4 Corvette C8.R by 0.224s to take pole position in GT Le Mans. Taylor’s best time was a 1m43.821s on his final lap of the session. Times dropped every lap as the track continued to dry.
“This session was a bit different and stressful with different conditions leading into it. We didn’t know whether to go slick or wet (tires),” Taylor said. “Thankfully, the guys made the right call with slicks, and then it was all about building temperatures in the tires and nailing it at the end.”
Cooper MacNeil in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR ended the session third and last in GTLM. He was nearly 14 seconds off the time set by Taylor despite being on the same slick tires as the Corvettes.
In LMP2, Ben Keating in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA 07 got the better of Steven Thomas in the No. 11 WIN Autosport ORECA 07 to score pole position. Keating’s best time was a 1m34.969s to Thomas’s time of 1m35.392s.
John Farano in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA 07 was last in the class and nearly five seconds behind Keating’s time.
17-year-old Mateo Llarena put the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Liger JS P320 on pole in LMP3 with a time of 1m42.633s. It had been a busy week for Performance Tech, who needed to complete a 12-hour round trip drive to New York City to pick up a new engine for their Ligier from John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier JS P320 was second with a time of 1m43.368s. The No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 completed the top three with a 1m43.608s from Jarrett Andretti.
Tire choice was the key to success in GT Daytona. As the first class to run in the session, they acted as the guinea pigs for the field. Some teams opted for slick tires while others opted for wets. The wet tires turned out to be the right choice as Madison Snow in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo qualified on pole with a time of 1m59.380s.
Vasser Sullivan split the tire choice across their two cars. The team sent the No. 12 Lexus RC-F GT3 out on wet tires and the No. 14 Lexus RC-F GT3 out on slick tires. Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Lexus, with the help of the wet tires, qualified second in the class with a time of 1m59.820s. Aaron Telitz, on slick tires in the No. 14 Lexus, ended the session in eighth.
Richard Heistand in the No. 39 Carbahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 rounded out the top three in the session with a time of 2m00.946s.