IMSA Mid-Ohio: Acura Team Penske locks out front row

Cameron eventually chiseled his lap time down to 1min10.839sec, a time he all-but replicated with his final flyer, to wind up 0.016sec faster than Castroneves.

Best of the rest was Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 Mazda RT24-P who was 0.165sec off the pace and a mere 0.063sec ahead of fastest Cadillac DPi-V.R driver, Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing entry.

Championship leader Ryan Briscoe had a late off-track excursion but didn’t cause a red nor lose his best time, so will start the Wayne Taylor Racing Caddy from fifth, alongside the second Mazda of Oliver Jarvis.

The two JDC Miller Motorsports Cadillacs were seventh and eighth, team debutant Gabriel Aubry 0.7sec off teammate Sebastien Bourdais’ pace.

Jordan Taylor was in a class of his own driving the #3 Corvette C8.R to GT Le Mans pole position, setting a 1min17.985sec, 0.463sec faster than teammate Oliver Gavin. That was a big enough gap for Jesse Krohn to grab second place in his BMW M8, 0.376sec behind Taylor, while Bruno Spengler was half a second off the ultimate pace. Only four cars will start in GTLM this weekend following Porsche’s withdrawal from the event.

In GT Daytona, Aaron Telitz put the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F on pole ahead of the two Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSXs of Matt McMurry and Misha Goikhberg, with Corey Fergus fourth in the Compass Racing McLaren 720S.

This quartet was covered by just 0.328sec, but times were even tighter behind them. Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsports BMW M6 was just 0.06sec behind the McLaren, Ian James was a near identical gap in arrears pedaling the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, and Frankie Montecalvo was a mere 0.01 behind in the second Lexus. That meant the top seven were covered by just half a second.

The 2hr40min race begins at 2.05pm local (Eastern) time.

OP	Car	CL	Driver	Lap	Best	Gap	Marque	BL
1	6	DPi	D.Cameron	12	1:10.839	---	Acura DPi	9
2	7	DPi	H.Castroneves	12	1:10.855	0.016	Acura DPi	11
3	55	DPi	J.Bomarito	12	1:11.004	0.165	Mazda DPi	12
4	31	DPi	P.Derani	12	1:11.067	0.228	Cadillac DPi	12
5	10	DPi	R.Briscoe	12	1:11.271	0.432	Cadillac DPi	8
6	77	DPi	O.Jarvis	12	1:11.365	0.526	Mazda DPi	12
7	5	DPi	S.Bourdais	11	1:11.382	0.543	Cadillac DPi	11
8	85	DPi	G.Aubry	12	1:12.081	1.242	Cadillac DPi	12
9	3	GTLM	J.Taylor	12	1:17.985	---	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	10
10	24	GTLM	J.Krohn	12	1:18.361	0.376	BMW M8 GTE	11
11	4	GTLM	O.Gavin	12	1:18.448	0.463	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	10
12	25	GTLM	B.Spengler	11	1:18.515	0.530	BMW M8 GTE	10
13	14	GTD	A.Telitz	11	1:20.974	---	Lexus RC F GT3	10
14	86	GTD	M.McMurry	12	1:21.089	0.115	Acura NSX GT3	11
15	57	GTD	M.Goikhberg	11	1:21.196	0.222	Acura NSX GT3	10
16	76	GTD	C.Fergus	11	1:21.302	0.328	McLaren 720S GT3	10
17	96	GTD	R.Foley	11	1:21.364	0.390	BMW M6 GT3	10
18	23	GTD	I.James	12	1:21.431	0.457	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	11
19	12	GTD	F.Montecalvo	11	1:21.442	0.468	Lexus RC F GT3	7
20	16	GTD	R.Hardwick	12	1:21.659	0.685	Porsche 911 GT3 R	11
21	22	GTD	T.Bechtolsheimer	10	1:22.189	1.215	Acura NSX GT3	8
22	74	GTD	G.Robinson	12	1:22.254	1.280	Mercedes-AMG	11
23	44	GTD	J.Potter	11	1:22.388	1.414	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	9
24	30	GTD	R.Ferriol	11	1:22.855	1.881	Audi R8 LMS GT3	8