Trent Hindman Wins Esses 120 Pole

Hindman won the pole by .851 seconds over TeamTGM’s Paul Holton. Motorsports In Action’s Jesse Lazare will start third, followed by JMF Motorsport’s Michai Stephens. Van der Steur Racing’s Rory van der Steur was fifth.

Rennsport One had been the team to beat at Watkins Glen all day Friday. Hindman and teammate Stevan McAleer were fastest in the two practice sessions. During qualifying, it didn’t take long for Hindman to put himself on top.

Partially thanks to having his pit stall near pit out, Hindman was the first driver on the track. He put himself on top of the chart on his first lap and never really let go.

The quick lap of the session came eight minutes in. At the time, it was the better part of a second faster than anyone else. Shortly afterwards, Hindman pulled into the pits and let the other 24 Grand Sport teams try to beat his time. No one was able to do so, or even particularly get close.

In TCR, Montreal Motorsport Group’s Hondas were the class of the field early on. LP Montour was fastest after the first full lap at speed. On his second fast lap, Montour set a lap at 106.045 mph. This was more than a second faster than anyone else at the time.

Meanwhile, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Harry Gottsacker and Mason Filippi were a little slow to leave the pits. As a result, the rest of the class got two laps at speed before they went on the clock for the first time.

Gottsacker’s first lap at speed was good enough for second quickest at the time. He ended up swapping second with Daijiro Yoshihara, but no one could catch Montour, who took his first career pole.

Montour’s lap ended up being the second fastest lap overall. He ended up .406 seconds faster than Gottsacker. Yoshihara will start third, then Filippi and JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Chris Miller.

The Esses 120 is scheduled to go green at 12:55 p.m. ET Saturday morning. Coverage of the race will stream live on Peacock starting at 12:50 p.m. ET.