BRASELTON, Ga. – In case you were wondering, Helio Castroneves still enjoys winning.
Castroneves recorded a lap of 1 minute, 8.674 seconds (133.150 mph) around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta circuit Friday evening to claim the Motul Pole Award for Saturday’s TireRack.com Grand Prix. The winning lap in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi ARX-05 led to an uproarious celebration by the 45-year-old Castroneves, who jumped into the arms of teammate Ricky Taylor and mugged for cameras.
Joyous celebrations have become Castroneves’ trademark in a racing career that spans more than two decades.
“Every time you achieve something great, fun and special – what we love to do – it doesn’t matter the age,” Castroneves said. “Every time you’re doing something that you love, it’s always fun.”
It was the fifth pole for Castroneves in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition. Known for his outstanding qualifying efforts, he’s also won four poles in his 20 Indianapolis 500s.
This one, as with all the others, was cause for celebration – especially for the usually ebullient Castroneves.
“It’s great to celebrate,” he said. “You have to show that. Sometimes you get upset, as well, but it’s more fun to show the positive side. It’s a great way to do it.”
The No. 7 Acura will start alongside the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi V.R, which Felipe Nasr drove to the front row with a lap just 0.056 seconds behind Castroneves’ best. Nasr will share the car with Pipo Derani and Felipe Albuquerque when Saturday’s race begins at 11:35 a.m. ET.
Dane Cameron brought the No. 6 Penske Acura home third in qualifying and will join Juan Pablo Montoya as the team tries to repeat the overall and Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class win Aug. 2 by Castroneves and Taylor in the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America.
Patrick Kelly scored the pole position in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, which is reduced to just two entries this weekend while other teams travel to and prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sept. 19-20.
“The usual suspects aren’t here,” said Kelly, who will team with Simon Trummer and Scott Huffaker in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07. “I understand it’s between traveling to France for Le Mans, and COVID and getting in and out of the country. That’s why they sat it out (this weekend), so it’s unfortunate that they aren’t here. Before I went out, the team said to me, ‘Let’s have a good car for tomorrow,’ which I took to mean, ‘Don’t do anything stupid.’ So, I just hit my marks.”
Kyle Tilley drove the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07 to the second starting position. He’ll share the ride with Dwight Merriman and Colin Braun.
For Castroneves, the DPi pole was about patience. Early in the session, he caught traffic on what he’d hoped would be his fastest laps. He finally got clear track and used information from the team’s other car to claim the pole.
“I thought, ‘I’ve got maybe one more lap to do it. We’ve just got to make sure we have a good lap again,’” he said. “And that’s what I did. My team also gave a little bit of information since we have a sister car, so we could tell you’re losing a bit of time here or there. It’s a team sport, you have to take advantage of all the tools you have to improve.”