BRASELTON, Ga. – In his last qualifying attempt with Action Express Racing, Felipe Nasr was at his best.
Nasr recorded the fastest lap Friday in qualifying for the 24th Motul Petit Le Mans, putting himself and teammate Pipo Derani closer to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers’ title in the Daytona Prototype international class.
Winning the Motul Pole Award was emotional for Nasr, who will leave Action Express after the race. The team announced last month that Nasr will be replaced next season by Tristan Nunez in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.
During a post-qualifying interview, Nasr fought to control his emotions.
“I promised myself that I wouldn’t let the emotions come until after the checkered flag drops (Saturday),” Nasr said. “That shows how much respect and love I have for the team. They took me in as family when I joined halfway through 2017. They’re just a big family to me. … This is something that will always remain. It will be sad to leave them.”
Nasr was clocked at 1 minute, 8.678 seconds (133.142 mph), just 0.015 seconds faster than Harry Tincknell in the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda RT24-P.
The 35-point reward for winning the Motul Pole Award is significant in the team’s battle for the championships in the DPi class. Nasr and Derani are now 11 points closer to catching points leaders Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque from the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 in Saturday’s 10-hour season finale.
The gain from winning the pole put Nasr and Derani within eight points of Taylor and Albuquerque for the drivers’ championship. Whichever car finishes higher – the No. 31 or the No. 10 – takes home the crown.
Albuquerque had the seventh-fastest lap in the No. 10 Acura – 1:09.328 – slowest of all the DPi entries.
The No. 55 of Tincknell, Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito will start ahead of the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Loic Duval and Tristan Vautier.
Mike Conway will join Nasr and Derani in the No. 31 car, while Alexander Rossi will join Taylor and Albuquerque in the No. 10.
LMP2
Ben Keating grabbed the Le Mans Prototype 2 pole in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 but not without an adventure. The Texan’s best lap of 1:12.229 (126.597 mph) outpaced Steven Thomas in the No. 11 WIN Autosport ORECA by 0.354 seconds with Dwight Merriman slotting into third on the LMP2 grid in the No. 18 Era Motorsport entry.
The was Keating’s seventh career pole, despite sliding off course early in the 15-minute session in Turn 3.
Keating needs only to start Saturday’s race to get another rush, namely securing LMP2 team title for PR1 Mathiasen and the driver title for himself and season-long co-driver Mikkel Jensen.
LMP3
Niklas Kruetten earned his first WeatherTech Championship pole position, driving the No. 2 United Autosports USA Ligier JS P320 to the top of the Le Mans Prototype 3 qualifying chart.
Kruetten made the most of limited track time following an early red flag in the session to turn a lap of 1:15.664 seconds (120.849 mph) to score his first pole.
Kruetten’s feat was more impressive since this is his first visit to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and the team didn’t test leading up to race weekend.
Qualifying offered an interesting twist for the two teams battling for season championship honors.
The points leader, Gar Robinson, who drives the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, will start fifth in the 10-car LMP3 field. The No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier did not make a qualifying lap due to what the team described as a “fuel cell issue.”