- Filipe Albuquerque puts Wayne Taylor Racing's Acura ARX-05 on the pole for Sunday's IMSA Fast Lane SportsCar Weekend at Road America
- Tom Blomqvist to start third in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05
- Rick Ware Racing NSX GT-3 Evo22 looks to move forward in potentially rain-affected race
It's a P1 start for Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and the Wayne Taylor Racing team as Albuquerque qualified their #10 Acura ARX-05 on the pole today for Sunday's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Fastlane SportsCar Weekend at Road America.
The pole position comes at a vital time in the championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, as the team battles for the championship with fellow Acura team Meyer Shank Racing. For their efforts, the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 will start third with co-drivers Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis.
In the production-based GTD class, Aidan Read set the ninth fastest qualifying time aboard the #51 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, however Read and co-driver Ryan Eversley will start at the rear of the field due to a pit lane infraction in qualifying. The pair will be looking to capitalize on the forecast rainy conditions for tomorrow and hope to make their way through the field.
Road America Acura Qualifying Results
- 1st overall - #10 Filipe Albuquerqye, Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
- 3rd overall - #60 Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi [new lap record]
- 9th GTD - #51 Aidan Read, Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
Quote
Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing ARX-05) pole qualifier: "It all came together with pole position and the championship points [earned for pole]. The satisfaction is for me, from the drivers point of view, and for the team as well. They gave me the perfect car and I just felt great right away, from Turn 1, the car was really, really good, with a lot of grip. Tomorrow's race is going to be really rainy, so starting from P1 in a potentially chaotic race, that should help keep us out of trouble. It's ideal! The pressure is on now, though, we cannot finish behind the #60 and those guys are so fast. We are going to keep fighting for the championship and we'll see how it goes tomorrow!"
Fast Fact
- This is the fifth IMSA pole of the season for Acura. At the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, Albuquerque and Taylor combined to win the qualifying race that set the starting field; and Taylor led another Acura front-row qualifying sweep at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Blomqvist scored consecutive poles at Watkins Glen International Raceway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park; followed by Albuquerque's pole today at Road America.
Where to Watch IMSA Racing from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
The IMSA Fastlane Sportscar Weekend gets underway Sunday at 11:40 a.m. EDT with live streaming coverage on NBC Peacock. Television coverage on the USA Network begins at 12
p.m. EDT.
Fans can listen to audio commentary via IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and XM Radio; and follow the race live via in-car cameras, IMSA Radio and timing & scoring available worldwide on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile device App.
Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD).
Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).
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