ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Saturday was a lovely day to go for a drive in the Wisconsin countryside, and Filipe Albuquerque made the most of it.
Albuquerque powered the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 around the bucolic Road America circuit in 1 minute, 48.601 seconds (134.186 mph) to earn the Motul Pole Award for Sunday’s feature race at the IMSA SportsCar Weekend. Jordan Taylor locked out the front row for Acura in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class in WTRAndretti’s No. 40 entry at 1:48.863 (133.863 mph).
Albuquerque joked that the pole position was a great 35th birthday present for his co-driver, Ricky Taylor. But given how good the No. 10 Acura felt in qualifying, he felt like he was the one who received the gift.
“I love to qualify because the car will never be better,” Albuquerque said after attaining his 15th career IMSA pole. “Low fuel, new tires, clean track, the sun is setting a little bit…the car will never be faster. That feeling for me, is always so, so special – to drive a fast car in its prime. I just love it.”
Regarding Saturday’s qualifying session, Albuquerque added: “I kept improving, and when I did a 1:48.9, I thought it was good enough that I could bail on it. But my mind went straight away to not underestimate anybody, even if it felt great.
“Then I kept pushing for another lap and I was like 0.3 second (faster)…I thought, ‘For me, this was a good lap, I put it together well. I just hope no one does better!’ I said to the team, ‘If this is not pole position, I’m at peace because I felt like I took everything out of me.’ And it turned out well.”
Renger van der Zande was the only other driver to break the 1 minute 49 second barrier, managing a 1:48.920 lap (133.793 mph) in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R he shares with Sebastien Bourdais. Gianmaria Bruni qualified the No. 5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling Porsche 963 on the outside of the second row (1:49.392), besting the factory entries fielded by Porsche Penske Motorsport.
It was a troubled qualifying session for the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche that leads the GTP standings, as Dane Cameron endured multiple off-course excursions and qualified ninth. The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 did not take part in qualifications after the car incurred damage in the morning practice session.
Albuquerque will attempt to repeat his 2022 pole-to-victory effort at Road America, where he and Ricky Taylor triumphed in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class.
“The team works so hard, and it makes the dream work,” Albuquerque said. “We’ve been looking strong the whole weekend. I always say that pole position is for the ego, and a front row start is more than enough. But the race is totally different.”
Hyett’s Home Cookin’ Lands LMP2 Pole in No. 99 AO Racing ORECA
PJ Hyett loves everything about Road America, the circuit he considers his home track. He loves it even more after recording his fourth consecutive Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) pole position of the season on Saturday.
Hyett turned a lap of 1:53.738 (128.125 mph) in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 he co-drives with Paul-Loup Chatin to take the top starting LMP2 spot for Sunday’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend.
Doing it at the IMSA track closest to AO Racing headquarters in St. Charles, Illinois, just 150 miles away, made it even more special.
“I absolutely love this track,” said Hyett, co-founder of AO Racing with Gunnar Jeannette. “It’s the first track that I ever drove a P2 car at 12 months ago. It’s special on a number of levels. My grandfather taught me to drive about 100 miles from here in the rolling hills of Wisconsin.”
Ben Keating recovered from a hard crash during the Saturday morning practice session to land the No. 2 starting position in class with a lap of 1:54.110 (127.708 mph) in the No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA. Teammate Daniel Goldburg was third with a lap of 1:54.129 (127.686 mph) in the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA he co-drives with Paul Di Resta.
Hyett previously won LMP2 poles this season at Sebring International Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. But Saturday’s effort meant just that much more.
“Everything is special about what’s happening today,” Hyett said. “For me to be able to put the car on pole here is really a dream come true. I absolutely love racing a P2 car and hope to continue doing it.”