The teams of Kiwis Tom Blomqvist, Hunter McElrea and Brendon Leitch have performed strongly in qualifying for IMSA’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Whelan Cadillac Racing’s V-Series.R, which features Blomqvist, Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani, will start off the second row as the fourth fastest Hypercar after Aitken put in a 1:14.996 on the famed road course, which was four-tenths shy of the pole-setting time of Sebastien Bourdais.
Bourdais’ 1:14.592 was the fastest of the day, seeing the Frenchman claim pole for the first time in his 22 attempts across various categories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Regular partner Renger van der Zande joins him at Cadillac Racing for the six-hour race.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s #40 Acura ARX-06 completes the front row, ahead of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #6 963.
In LMP2, McElrea’s TDS Racing team will line up second in class and 13th overall. Steven Thomas qualified the #11 ORECA LMP2
07 he will share with McElrea and Mikkel Jensen this weekend.
Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports claimed the LMP2 pole position as the only team to break the 1-minute 18-second barrier. Such was the pace of Nick Boulle, who qualified the car, that his best three laps were good enough to claim the pole.
In GTD, Kerong Li qualified MDK Motorsport’s #86 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), which he shares with Leitch and Anders Fjordbach.
Li’s best lap, a 1m 24.660s flyer, puts them 12th in class and on grid 46 of 56.
Mikael Grenier and Kenton Koch’s #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 took the class pole. Grenier’s 1:23.537 was just over one second quicker than Li’s 12th-best time.
Also competing in the GTD Pro field is Sun Energy 1’s #75 Mercedes AMG-GT3, shared by Australians Kenny Habul, Jordan Love, and Supercars star Chaz Mostert.
Mostert qualified for the trio, putting the team ninth in class and 32nd overall with a 1:23.856.
IMSA’s Battle on the Bricks begins at 3.40 am NZST on Monday and will be shown live on Sky Sport.
Header Image: IMSA
