Westbrook Gives Ford First GTLM Pole at Watkins Glen
Westbrook, who had the No. 67 Ford GT all to himself up until now due to Ryan Briscoe’s absence for the birth of his child, put in a 1:41.301, obliterating the previous GTLM pole record at Watkins Glen by nearly 3 seconds.
The battle between Ford and BMW in the practice sessions continued in qualifying, with BMW Team RLL ending up second and third on the grid.
Both manufacturers were the only ones to dip under the 1:42 barrier.
The No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM of Dirk Werner put in the second quickest time, 0.349 seconds slower than Westbrook’s pole, with John Edwards third in the No. 100 BMW.
Joey Hand qualified the Le Mans GTE-Pro class-winning No. 66 Ford GT in fourth, while Alessandro Pier Guidi had to settle for fifth in the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE, with the car receiving a warming for overboost.
Tommy Milner was quickest of the normally aspirated GTLM cars in sixth, nearly 1.5 seconds slower than the pole-sitting Ford.
After topping all three practice sessions in GT Daytona, Stevenson Motorsports carried over that form to qualifying, claiming class pole and third spot on the grid with its Audi R8 LMS cars.
Robin Liddell reeled off a best lap of 1:45.407 in his No. 6 Stevenson Audi to edge out the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mario Farnbacher by just 0.042 seconds.
Lawson Aschenbach’s time in the No. 9 Stevenson Audi secured third, in front of the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Madison Snow and the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen.
The Dream Racing Lamborghini that crashed heavily in Practice 2 yesterday did not take part in qualifying.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled to start at 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday.