SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais set a lap at 117.712 mph Saturday afternoon (Sept. 21) with just under five minutes remaining in qualifying. That lap held up to earn the pole for Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
“It’s always great to be on pole,” Bourdais said during the post-qualifying press conference. “Looks like it could be a tough day tomorrow with the weather coming, so starting up front might not be the worst idea. [Winning the pole] is quite insignificant for a six-hour race, but it’s very pleasing for personal matters and also for the team.”
Bourdais won the pole by .225 seconds over Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Louis Deletraz. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Mathieu Jaminet, who was quickest in practice Friday, was third fastest, then Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken. BMW M Team RLL’s Connor de Phillippi was fifth.
Early on, JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Tijmen van der Helm was fastest in his Porsche, but BMW M Team RLL’s Philipp Eng usurped him on his second lap at speed.
The BMWs were the first of the factory squads to get up to speed. A decent chunk of the session saw Eng and de Phillippi trade quick times.
After the halfway point of the session, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr entered the conversation with a lap that was third fastest. Deletraz, who was fastest in practice Saturday morning, went to the top with a little more than five minutes to spare.
Shortly afterwards, Bourdais was able to put his best foot forward. His lap put Cadillac on top for the first time in the session. From here, a lot of the teams took aim at Bourdais’ time, but could not prevent the yellow and black Cadillac VSeries.R from claiming the pole.
LMP2 saw a battle at the top of the class between Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Nick Boulle, United Autosports’ Ben Keating and TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas. Keating was quick early on, but Boulle was able to take the top spot back.
Boulle and Keating traded purple sectors (fastest of all), but Boulle was able to maintain his advantage with a lap at 113.123 mph. He was able to hold on to win the class pole.
Boulle’s lap was .461 seconds faster than Thomas, who set a quick time with two minutes to go. Keating will start third, then AO Racing’s PJ Hyett. Dan Goldburg in the second United Autosports entry was fifth.
In GTD Pro, it was AO Racing’s Laurin Heinrich who won the class…
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