Sebastien Bourdais turned the fastest lap Saturday in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to claim the pole position in the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.
The 1-minute, 10.439-second lap marked the third pole position of the season for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also qualified first in the No. 01 Cadillac at Sebring and Long Beach.
“We had to push really hard really early on the green flag because it was drizzling, and I wasn’t sure the lap was going to be good enough, but I nailed a good one,” Bourdais said after his fifth career pole position in IMSA and the first for a Cadillac at Mid-Ohio since 2018.
MID-OHIO STARTING GRID: Click here for the Lexus Grand Prix starting lineup l Lineup by car number
“The boys did a really good job of giving us some fast cars we got that Cadillac up there. We’re definitely hoping for a clean start and keeping the Cadillac up front throughout the race.”
Bourdais and co-driver Renger van der Zande won at Long Beach last month.
Congratulations to our @motul pole award winners at @Mid_Ohio for the Lexus Grand Prix tomorrow!
— #IMSA (@IMSA) May 14, 2022
DPi- No. 01 @CadillacVSeries || @CGRTeams
LMP2 - No. 52 @PR1Motorsports
LMP3 - No. 36 @FollowAndretti
GTD - No. 1 @paulmilleracing #IMSA / #IMSAatMO / #LexusGP pic.twitter.com/MPlT6BxoFF
Filipe Albuquerque qualified second in the No. 10 Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing, followed by Oliver Jarvis in the No. 60 Acura for Meyer Shank Racing. Acuras have won the past four races at Mid-Ohio.
The two-hour, 40-minute race will begin at 2 p.m. ET Sunday with broadcast coverage on USA and Peacock.
Here are the pole-sitters in other categories for the Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course:
LMP2: Patrick Kelly, No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, 1:14.340
LMP3: Jarett Andretti, No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320, 1:17.104
GTD: Madison Snow, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, 1:20.525
QUALIFYING
Fastest lap by driver after qualifying
Fastest lap by driver and class after qualifying
Fastest lap sequence in qualifying
Best sector times in qualifying
PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II