Porsche North America’s Bamber Wins Petit Le Mans GTLM Pole, To Start From Back Of Grid After Last-L
- plugged2racing
- Oct 3, 2015
- 5 min read
To say today’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) qualifying session was unusual would be an understatement. The 15-minute session for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta saw multiple on-track incidents, penalties and failed post-session inspections.
While Earl Bamber posted the fastest time of the qualifying session, he lost control of his No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR with a few minutes remaining, going off course in Turn 5 and bringing out the red flag to stop the session. Per IMSA rules, the red flag wiped away his fastest time of 1:30.074. Thankfully for Bamber, his second fastest time of 1:30.304 (101.258 mph) was enough to keep him on the pole. However, due to chassis damage sustained in the incident, the team went to a backup car, and the new No. 912 Porsche also co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister and Frederic Makowiecki will start at the back of the GT grid.
Bamber’s Porsche North America teammate Nick Tandy initially qualified second in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz with a time of 1:30.398 (101.153 mph), but failed post-qualifying inspection due to a ride-height infraction. He also will start from the back of the GT grid.
Qualifying third with a best lap of 1:31.685 (99.733 mph) was Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin. Gavin will begin Saturday’s race at the front of the GT grid with co-drivers Tommy Milner and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Two-time defending Petit Le Mans winners Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler will start near the back of the GT grid with co-driver Patrick Long in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR after an incident in Turn 12 three minutes into the session prevented them from setting a qualifying time.
Cameron Lawrence Claims GTD Pole On Last Lap
Riley Motorsports driver Cameron Lawrence swiped the GT Daytona (GTD) TOTAL Pole Award away from second-place qualifier Spencer Pumpelly on the final lap of Friday’s qualifying session, posting a best lap of 1:38.295 (93.026 mph).
Lawrence, who co-drives the No. 93 TI Automotive/Viper Exchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R with Marc Goossens and Al Carter, has won two of the three races Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup events they’ve competed in this year, winning most recently at the Six Hours of The Glen.
Qualifying the No. 73 Park Place Porsche/UiS Porsche 911 GT America second with a time of 1:38.886 (92.470 mph) was Pumpelly, who co-drives the Park Place Porsche entry with Patrick Lindsey. This would have been the team’s second pole of the season, after Lindsey captured the TOTAL Pole Award in August at Road America.
Third in the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America with a time of 1:38.889 (92.458 mph) was Leh Keen, just 0.013 seconds behind Pumpelly. Keen, who is an Atlanta, Georgia native, will share the Alex Job Racing entry with regular co-driver Cooper MacNeil and fellow Georgian Andrew Davis. Earlier in the day, Davis won the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge championship earlier in the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R with co-driver Robin Liddell.
Earl Bamber became the second TUDOR Championship GTLM driver to win more than one pole. The only other GTLM driver to capture multiple poles is Bamber’s Porsche North America teammate, Nick Tandy, with three poles dating back to the series’ inaugural race in 2014.
Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda also serves as the final event in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, a 52-hour competition combining the classic races at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen.
GTD points leader Christina Nielsen qualified eighth in the No. 007 Royal Purple/Orion Energy/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA Aston Martin Vantage with a time of 1:42.911 (88.853 mph). Nielsen enters Saturday’s race with a one-point lead in the GTD standings over ninth-place qualifier Dion von Motlke and his No. 48 Paul Miler Racing Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS co-driver, Christopher Haase.
QUOTES:
Earl Bamber, Driver – No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR
“Our pole was really, really good. We had a good car today. Both Porsches were really quick. On my last lap we were getting quicker but I made a mistake in the fourth corner. I hit a river and did an aquaplane. We’ve come away with a lot of 1-2 results so I think we are going to push for that tomorrow as well.
“[The rain is] going to be a big subject tomorrow. Even on the qualifying it was right on the limit to run for qualifying. Having a lot of rain over the last few weeks, there’s not much more the ground can take. It’s not like the track has bad drainage, it’s just that the ground can’t take that much more. Just having the break for 10 minutes and not having the 30 plus cars moving the water, it makes a big difference. But after a restart the water levels will have gone up so cautions are going to breed cautions.”
Cameron Lawrence, Driver – No. Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS
“Definitely an interesting way to get my first pole the way the weather is. It’s been tricky working with this rain, we weren’t sure what we were going to get. The car was really good, we’ve been working on the balance. After the wet conditions at The Glen it really helped without experience with this car. We kept pushing harder and harder on every lap and it felt like the conditions were getting worse. And then I just kept pushing deeper and deeper to put together a fast lap, and was able to get the pole. It’s been our goal since Daytona to focus on the [Tequila] Patrón [North American] Endurance Cup. We’ve just been working on the segments as best as we can. We try to come away with the maximum points we can at each race.
“It’s nice to be back in the car, it’s been a while since we’ve been in after The Glen. Hopefully we can push toward the end and come home with a win here tomorrow. We really wanted to save the car, especially leading in the Patrón Endurance Cup. We didn’t need to push anything right off the bat. They said to push as hard as I was comfortable with, but we’ve been quick in all the practice sessions, and lap after lap we found a little more confidence and a little more grip. I was just really thrilled and really surprised, but it really shows what kind of car we have.”
Saturday’s on-track activity opens with a 20-minute warm-up session beginning at 8 a.m. ET.
Contact:
nsiebens@imsa.com
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