Photo Credit: Steve Conley/TPF
Topping the leaderboard during the two practice sessions for the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio was the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac and the Meyer Shank Racing No. 60 Acura. However, neither of those two fast cars would end up sitting on top of the board following qualifying.
Mazda would shock DPI as Harry Tincknell earned the Motul Pole Award. The No. 55 Mazda would smash the previous qualifying record by nearly seven-tenths of a second.
Tincknell said, “Seventy seconds around Mid-Ohio is really pushing on quite a bit.” Tincknell would put up the top stop during the warmest part of qualifying, followed by Ricky Taylor and Felipe Nasar.
Tincknell and his Mazda teammate, Jarvis, were near the bottom of the DPi timing charts in practice, but they found speed when it counted.
The 29-year-old Englishman admitted that he never expected to lap under the track record by such a large margin. He set his time with more than five minutes remaining in the 15-minute qualifying session.
“I was surprised because we hadn’t shown anywhere nearly that pace so far during the weekend,” he said. “The sun has come out today, and I think that helped us a bit. That’s the best the car has felt around here by a long way and the new surface around Turn 2 perhaps provides a bit more grip.”
Gar Riley lead the way in LMP3 driving the no. 74 for Riley Motorsports.
Qualifying DPi
1 DPi 55 O. Jarvis / H. Tincknell Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi 1:10.027
2 DPi 10 R. Taylor / F. Albuquerque Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 Acura DPi 1:10.122
3 DPi 31 F. Nasr / P. Derani Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi 1:10.432
4 DPi 01 R. van der Zande / K. Magnussen Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi 1:10.934
5 DPi 5 T. Vautier / L. Duval Mustang Sampling / JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi 1:10.567
6 DPi 60 D. Cameron / O. Pla Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura DPi 1:10.355
Qualifying LMP3
7 LMP3 74 G. Robinson / F. Fraga Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 1:17.246
8 LMP3 54 J. Bennett / C. Braun Core Autosport Ligier JS P320 1:17.632
9 LMP3 36 J. Andretti / O. Askew Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 1:17.713
10 LMP3 38 R. Lindh / D. Goldburg Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 1:19.347
11 LMP3 33 L. Willsey / J. Barbosa Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320 1:19.629
12 LMP3 91 J. Cox / D. Murry Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 1:19.444
Qualifying GTD
13 GTD 14 A. Telitz / J. Hawksworth Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 1:20.529
14 GTD 96 B. Auberlen / R. Foley Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 1:20.535
15 GTD 28 D. Morad / M. de Quesada Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:20.687
16 GTD 12 F. Montecalvo / Z. Veach Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 1:20.812
17 GTD 1 B. Sellers / M. Snow Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1:20.941
18 GTD 23 R. De Angelis / R. Gunn Heart Of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 1:21.139
19 GTD 76 J. Kingsley / M. Farnbacher Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 1:21.332
20 GTD 39 R. Heistand / J. Westphal CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 1:21.478
21 GTD 66 T. Bechtolsheimer / M. Miller Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 1:21.856
22 GTD 16 R. Hardwick / P. Long Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R 1:21.975
23 GTD 88 R. Ferriol / K. Legge Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3R 1:22.036
24 GTD 44 J. Potter / A. Lally Magnus with Archangel Acura NSX GT3 1:22.131
25 GTD 9 Z. Robichon / L. Vanthoor Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R 1:20.952
The IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Series and the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio goes green on NBC at 2:40 pm
