Tom Blomqvist put Acura Meyer Shank Racing on pole for the 28th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans, turning a blistering 1:09.628 seconds in qualifying Friday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The Englishman’s lap in the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 was good for a new GTP class record, and averaged more than 131 miles per hour and narrowly edged Jack Aitken’s No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R by two-tenths of a second. Blomqvist’s teammate Colin Braun and third driver Scott Dixon will share driving duties for Saturday’s 10-hour endurance classic.
The top three prototypes were covered by less than three-tenths of a second, underscoring just how evenly matched the hybrid GTP field remains.
Behind Blomqvist and Aitken, the sister No. 93 Meyer Shank Acura qualified third at 1:09.908. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 7 Porsche 963 will line up fourth, with the Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP in fifth on its Road Atlanta debut, just ahead of the second Porsche Penske 963 (No. 6).
Romain Grosjean placed Lamborghini’s SC63 (No. 63) seventh in its final outing before the program is paused at season end, while the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs (Nos. 10 and 40) and the BMW M Team RLL entries (24 and 25) filled out the top ten. JDC-Miller Motorsports completed the GTP order with its No. 85 Porsche.
Bronze driver Steven Thomas took the LMP2 pole for TDS Racing with a 1:13.157 lap in his No. 11 ORECA 07. He’ll share the car with Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea.
Inter Europol Competition’s No. 43 ORECA qualified second, followed by AO Racing’s No. 99. Both United Autosports USA cars (Nos. 22 and 2) rounded out the top five in class, separated by barely half a second. However the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson of Steven Thomas was stripped of the pole following technical inspection. The French entry was found to have “bodywork mass beyond a permitted homologated limit.”
Paul Miller Racing continued its Road Atlanta magic, putting its No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO on GTD PRO pole with a 1:18.523 from Max Hesse. The Vasser Sullivan No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 will start alongside, just 0.17 seconds adrift.
Corvette Racing’s No. 4 Z06 GT3.R qualified third, followed closely by DragonSpeed’s Ferrari 296 (No. 81) and AO Racing’s Porsche (No. 77), while the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW rounded out the top six.
In GTD, Cetilar Racing grabbed overall GT honors, with Roberto Lacorte clocking a 1:18.316 in the No. 47 Ferrari 296 GT3. The time was good enough to outrun several PRO entries. Triarsi Competizione’s No. 021 Ferrari and van der Steur Racing’s No. 19 Aston Martin Vantage will start second and third in class, while AF Corse’s No. 21 Ferrari and Winward Racing’s Mercedes-AMG (No. 57) complete the top five.
Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans begins at 12:10 p.m. ET, with the checkered flag scheduled for 10:10 p.m. The 10-hour enduro will decide IMSA’s 2025 WeatherTech Championship titles across all four divisions.
Fans can watch live on NBC for the first 3 hours and on Peacock Premium for the entire race, follow timing and scoring at IMSA.com.
